Republican News · Thursday 30 January 1997

[An Phoblacht]

Syringe law `counter-productive'

other anti-crime election gimmick

by Rita O'Reilly

Legislation on syringe attacks will have little impact on offenders who wield syringes as weapons but may make matters worse for health providers trying to curb the spread of infectious diseases. The concern has emerged following the announcement last week by Minister for Justice Nora Owen that a Bill will be published in the coming weeks creating a new and explicit offence for syringe threats or attacks, with a five year sentence for convicted offenders.

The Minister admitted that there are already a wide range of charges that can be brought under existing law against people who use syringes to threaten or injure others. As if to prove the point, the day after the Minister's announcement, heroin addict Mark O'Dwyer was jailed for five years for threatening people with a syringe while robbing. So why then is there a need for legislation? Nora Owen stated she considered it ``right and proper to mark society's disapproval of this form of criminal conduct'' in an explicit way.

Of course, for the Dublin government to address the almost total lack of community policing in urban areas might be a better way to mark disapproval of anti-social and criminal behaviour. But the explanation for why the official announcement was made might lie in the pre-emptive strike on 19 January by Fianna Fáil's Dublin South East TD Eoin Ryan. He called for the same syringe legislation but wanted ten year sentences imposed. A spate of television, radio and newspaper reports followed, pointing to the huge increase in syringe attacks. The day after, Nora Owen made her announcement. It is clear that a coalition of cherry-pickers are already lining up the issue of drugs and crime in this election year.

Though there is little doubt that there has been a surge in syringe attacks in the past year, all evidence is anecdotal. The Garda Press Office confirmed to An Phoblacht that there are no records or figures compiled on the number of reported syringe-related attacks. Not for the first time, the government is drafting crime legislation without having crime statistics to assess.

In addition, concern is also being expressed that while one arm of the government is encouraging drug users to use clean needles so as to prevent the spread of diseases like Hepatitis and HIV infection, another arm is explicity making the use of syringes `without lawful authority' an offence.

Tony Geoghegan of the Merchants Quay Project, the only non-statutory body operating a needle exchange, told An Phoblacht the syringe legislation ``could be counter-productive in terms of health promotion'', adding that there has been no consultation so far about its contents. He points out that relatively few drug users are engaged in syringe attacks and people who are not drug users have been known to use syringes as weapons.

Seán Crowe, Sinn Féin's representative in Dublin South West, who himself has been on the receiving end of a syringe attack, has backed new measures against `syringe bandits', saying the terror and distress such attacks cause for the victims and their families must not be allowed to go unchecked. But he's also calling for extra resources for drug treatment programmes ``to reduce the risk of desperate addicts resorting to this nightmare tactic''.

d referring to the problem of discarded syringes highlighted in An Phoblacht in the past, Séan Crowe has called for state agencies to assume responsibility for their collection. ``These syringes are a clear health hazard but people trying to get them collected are being shunted from pillar to post. State agencies, whether the Garda or the health board, need to sort out who is responsible for their collection without further delay and ensure that if people ring in to report finding them they are immediately collected.''

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