IT’S A DULL Thursday morning in Dublin’s south inner city and the preschool pupils of St Audoen’s National School are milling about their classroom.
Cook Street – a busy side road of tour buses and apartment buildings – is a hotspot of anti-social behaviour and public injecting by intravenous drugs users. TheJournal.ie has seen pictures of men tying up, of people injecting drugs into their groins, emergency services trying to resuscitate people, women injecting drugs on the 40 steps, violence, and discarded drug paraphernalia in and around the school.
“So we’re a Deis school in the inner city. Now I’m not big on labels – I don’t label the kids – but the whole initiative of Deis is to deliver equal opportunities,” says Meagher. Medically supervised injecting facilities are a key part of this. About 120 or so exist in the world, with the first being opened in Switzerland in 1986.
The presence of a healthcare professional reduces the risk of overdose. A common statistic quoted by those in favour of MSIFs is that no one has ever died of an overdose while inside one. Some studies show that social issues decrease as a result of an injecting centre opening, however the data is not comprehensive.
As well as St Audoen’s, objections were lodged by local businesses , local residents, management companies of apartment buildings and parents with children in the school . There are concerns over how to police drug dealing in the area, especially considering gardaí have been told to use their discretion when monitoring people leaving and entering the centre.
TheJournal.ie contacted gardai in relation to the policing plan, but had received no response by the time of publication.Walking through St Audoen’s on Thursday, the corridors are calm and quiet. In one room, a former pupil now teacher is in the middle of a gym class with enthusiastic pupils.Through doorways, children can be seen learning in their classrooms. It seems like a normal day in a normal primary school, no different from any other across the country.
The problem is when you see stuff once or twice you might be traumatised, but more than that, are you desensitised? No consultation
Cormfitz Keep injecting centres away from schools children should not have to witness this crap on their way to and from school DubCityCouncil FineGael HSELive
Yes... Hide the often sorry reality of human existence from the kids so when they grow up they can experiment with drugs not knowing the hard visual reality. Should we stop cars driving on the road in case a child is witness to an accident..ah sure! That's different.
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