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CORK FINE GAEL senator Jerry Buttimer has called for the introduction of drunk tanks at urban Garda stations in order to ease the pressure on hospital emergency departments.
“Increasingly hospital emergency departments across the country are seeing unacceptable numbers of people attending due to high levels of intoxication,” Buttimer said in a press release issued today.
“These people, many of whom have no ailment other than being severely drunk, are clogging up the system for genuinely ill people who find themselves waiting for hours on end to be treated. This cannot continue.”
Drunk tanks are not a new idea. Cities in the UK, including Newcastle and Cardiff, have already successfully trialled schemes whereby drunk people who are considered a danger to themselves are placed in alcohol recovery centres instead of being brought to hospital or kept in police cells.
In Bristol, a converted articulated lorry has been used to help people found severely drunk late at night or in the early hours of the morning.
The facility was launched in 2013 and operates as part of a joint project between the National Health Service in the UK and the National Licensed Trade Association.
According to a BBC report on the Bristol scheme from 2014, the centre kept 15 people out of A&E over one Christmas weekend. The facility costs more than half a million pounds to operate, the report added.
Buttimer’s statement today continued:
“Mobile or permanent drunk tanks have been used in many other EU member states to good effect.
“Swedish police stations contain units for people who are a danger to themselves or others, to sober up, get basic fluids and care.
“In the United Kingdom, mobile drunk tanks are regularly observed at large scale events such as concerts and festivals.
I suggest that similar facilities here could be funded through the small fines issued against people found drinking on the streets or intoxicated in public places.
1 in 20 cases
One in 20 cases brought to emergency departments in Ireland are related to alcohol, a study published in the medical journal BMJ Open revealed in May.
According to the research, 5.9% of people attending emergency departments included in the study had alcohol recorded in their notes. During the Saturday night and Sunday morning period that number could rise to 29%.
“We confirmed that the people coming to us with alcohol related presentations are more likely to be male, arrive by ambulance, leave without being seen by a doctor, and to leave against medical advice,” Dr Brian McNicholl of University Hospital Galway, a co-author of the study, said.
Cork first
Buttimer, who was elected to the Seanad after losing his Cork-North Central Dáil seat in the 2016 election, added in his statement:
“I would like to see my own city of Cork leading the way on this. It would be great to see Cork City Council trial one of these intoxication holding areas in partnership with An Garda Síochána and the HSE.
“This could be piloted in either the Bridewell Garda Station on Kyrl’s Quay or through the use of a mobile drunk tank in Cork city centre on busy nights.”
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Excellent idea
@john: The levels of public drunkenness are nowhere near what they were 20 years ago. Being drunk in public is now largely frowned on. There has been a big shift in attitudes.
@john: yeah it was Enda kenny’s and FG Idea in 2006 and guess who”s being in power since
@niall: were you ever in Temple bar?
@niall: a shame that the scrotes in Dublin city centre have no shame falling around the place and screaming at each other in plain view of tourists. After the drunk tanks, if we could have s zero tolerance policy to drinking and drug taking in public.
@john: Start with the dail bar.
@john: they should be then slapped with an invoice soon as they wake up.
@john: until a drunk dies while in the drunk tank. The Garda I are not medically qualified to care for the drunks of Ireland.
@Michael Allen: stupid comment
Gardai are not qualified to deal with people that are so intoxicated that they require hospital care. First time someone dies from alcohol related issues in so called drunk tank he’ll be saying the person should have been in hospital
@Ohhh_reeally: they are staffed by nurses or ambulance staff they are fully equipped with iv drips and a separate pump room if it’s required.. surely that’s better than sitting around a hospital all night waiting to be seen .
@Ohhh_reeally:
Shipping container located n hospital carparks with CCTV monitoring, panic buttons in the cells and half hour walkthroughs.
Cost effective and mobile enough to cater for festivals, gigs ect.
@Ohhh_reeally: tough
@Siobhán Ni Mhurchú: absolutely agree they shouldn’t be clogging up hospitals. Garda stations are not the place is all I’m saying.
@Gus Sheridan: you sure are
@Ohhh_reeally: they won’t be in Garda stations at all.
@Siobhán Ni Mhurchú: read the headline….
@Siobhán Ni Mhurchú: \What is a pump room?
@Ian Breathnach: read further than the headline and you might get the idea of what they’re taking about. .
@Mill Lane: Could we get people on community service orders to volunteer their hours looking after the drunks in them?
@Seosaimhin Ni Fhailbhe: nurses and the ambulance service look after them .
@Mill Lane: That’s a great idea from a cost point of view. You could fine them the next day to cover some costs. The fear of a fine might keep numbers down.
@Seosaimhin Ni Fhailbhe:
I’d have them in orange boiler suits cleaning the streets at night on the weekends.
Give them a quota of rubbish to collect and should they fail to meet it….extra community service.
Finally, a politican has a worthwhile idea. They’ve been doing it in the States for decades
@Peter White: People die in drunk tanks , they are dangerous. Better to look at our relationship with alcohol, – Make pubs responsible for serving intoxicated patrons.
So long as they have medical staff, because if you smell of alcohol, most sober people don’t even consider other reasons. . It would be a great idea to wear one of those medical amulets out and about if you are diabetic, just in case. When you’re unconscious, people can’t tell the cause.
@paul kelly: make people responsable for their own actions, rather than others responsible for their actions
Good idea but make the people using the service pay for it, if they can afford to get bladdered they can afford to pay some kind of charge
@Benny: great comment
A drunk tank would have been useful (and probably full too) in Leinster house that night of the bailout.
@Adrian: stupid comment
A skip in a field be way cheaper. Couple of sausages on an open fire in the morning.
Gardaí are not qualified to diagnose whether a person is “just drunk” or is suffering from a head injury or is a diabetic or 101 other possible causes of drunk like behaviour. Even if a person is “only” severely drunk, alcohol poisoning is a life threatening condition which needs to be dealt with by medical professionals, not cops.
Let the government invest in our health system and make it fit for purpose rather than constantly dodging their health responsibilities
Also we hear daily about putting Guards out on the streets and here we are putting them back in stations to mind drunks?
@Jes McNamara: so when I get stopped at a Garda checkpoint and breathtested, I’ll inform them of your point that they aren’t qualified . Ever heard of an alcometer, idiot????
@Brian Smith: the breath test at a checkpoint is an evidential test not medical, all it shows is the presence of alcohol and not the amount nor does it diagnose other underlying medical conditions which can be life threatening. Gardaí are not even qualified to take someone’s pulse. The two instructions Gardaí have in the case of drunken prisoners are to check on them at least every 15 minutes and if in doubt on their health, err on the side of caution and get them medical attention which at 4am is generally an ambulance or paramedic. It would help a lot if you knew what you were talking about instead of trolling and name calling.
@Brian Smith can’t believe you made that point and then called someone else an idiot. Christ you’re stupid
@Ohhh_reeally: oh plz, my feelings are so hurt by muppets like you
@Jes McNamar another leftie apologist for all the arseholes in society
@Brian Smith: you win the “dumbest comment” award today with that comment.
@Brian Smith: really? I am neither leftist nor apologising. I am open to the idea of drunk tanks, provided they are properly resourced with medical staff, security/police, equipment and facilities on hand to deal with them. I believe dumping drunks on the Gardaí without this will result in deaths in custody sooner rather than later. It will also result in more Gardaí being taken off the streets to deal with drunks back in the station. I note you again resort to name calling, the last resort of the uninformed.
@Brian Smith: nobody is trying to hurt your feelings Brian. Just pointing out you stupidity
@Mairtin Antaine O Conaill: I’m so bothered what you think
@Brian Smith: Can a guard tell the difference between a diabetic who has one drink and is hypoglycaemic and a drunk? or a drunk person with an expanding epidural haematoma?
@Jes McNamara: unfortunately for Gardai they have to deal with drunken idiots every weekend – they are best placed to decide if someone is just being a nuisance and disruptive because of too much alcohol onboard or in need to medical attention – actually they are probably even more experienced as they deal first hand with much greater numbers of drunken people than the medical staff
@Dave Hammond: there is no deciding, Gardaí are not qualified to make medical decisions, therefore they must err on the side of caution and defer to a medical professional if there is any possibility of a medical emergency
@Jes McNamara: if have you spent time in A+E disrupted by nuisance drunks then you should be able to grasp the concept proposed pretty easily , it works in other countries and maybe instead of trying to put barriers and objections and being a naysayer you should try be more open minded to how we can make improvements in Ireland , and again the facts are Garda actually have more real time expertise handling drunken idiots than medics – and if the system proposed was adopted it would allow the medics get the drunks from A+e and pass into Garda
And then charge them a fee the next morning for wasting public resources and time, when so intoxicated
How about just charging these people when they show up in emergency department’s, full charge even if you have a medical card.
@Tony Keane: hard to enforce but worth a try
populist crap always when they think there is an election on the way.. lead by example shut the bar in the Dail
@Dáithí: how’s that going to set an example? What actual difference would that make ? You think that because that particular bar is closed that people will stop going to pubs and stop drinking ?. Anything that is going to stop drunks taking up a stretcher in an ambulance and hanging around A&E is a good thing .
@Siobhán Ni Mhurchú: if you think this is about drunks taking up a stretcher , your misguided. This is about getting a headline and trying to get his seat back. the last time i head this was in 2006 by Enda Kenny , guess who has been in power since then..
@Dáithí: stupid comment
@Dáithí: maybe popular suggestions and solutions are what we need in ireland instead of just whingers and moaners.
How about enforcing existing laws on selling alcohol to drunk people?
@Dave O Keeffe: very true !
Remember when Enda Kenny said “get the drunks out of A+E” at the 2007 Ard Fheis? Did they do it in power? No.
In fairness, weren’t the drunks Fianna Fail?
@Fiona Fitzgerald: no Fiona, they weren’t. Dumb comment
It was Christmas Eve babe…
No doubt there will be a VIP section for TD’s?
@Clear And Graphic: stupid comment
Wasn’t there a case in the States were a guy had a heart attack, officers who found him smelled alcohol and stuck him in a cell to sober up and the guy died. Family got millions, officers lost their jobs. Know this kind of case would be few and far between, but it would just take AGS or worse, an individual Garda, to be sued before the rank and file said they wanted nothing to do with it. A Dublin hospital had a way of trying to dealing with this many years ago. Storeroom with rubber mattresses on the floor and a sick bucket beside each one.
@Tommy Roche: give us the link to that so we can read up
@Tommy Roche: idiotic – you are just as likely to get legal cases if you put people in store rooms with a bucket than have a solution – this works in other countries I cannot understand why Ireland has so many naysayers and whingers whenever solutions that may improve the country are made – or maybe it’s just the keyboard experts on the journal I’m reading ….
So, are these tanks to be built on to existing Garda stations or converting sections of current stations. Who will man them? Gardai aren’t qualified to offer a medical opinion. Assuming it’ll be medical staff. How about having them in or on the grounds of, hospitals which will take them out of A&E.
@Paul: your missing the whole argument here aren’t you
@Mark Walsh: He is correct, this is populist nonsense .
@Paul: Gardai are probably more qualified to decide if someone really needs serious medical attention or is just too drunk and being nuisance as they have to deal with more drunken people firsthand – also staff in A+E would be able to send the drunk messers on and free up – if you have ever experienced a a busy wait some weekend in A+E you would know full well that there are many many times that the drunks dont need A+E they need to sober up first as suggested. Why is it when good ideas work in other countries do we somehow have to start whinging that it s not good for here ???? Some people are just whingers.
@Dave Hammond: Gardai are more qualified to decide if someone needs serious medical attention? Seriously you dont have a clue.
@paul kelly: Garda are more experienced than anyone handling drunken situations – and if the system as proposed was adopted it would allow medical staff in A+E to pass on nuisance drunks and get them out of disrupting and clogging hospitals – I’ve lived in other countries where this works mate – which one of us hasn’t a clue ??
The first place to start is to close the Dail Bar.
@Liam Lally: stupid comment
They should have one for politicians who seem to think they don’t have to clear their tabs.
Drunks in the Dail.Should do away with the pub in the dail.
@Peter Coen: and your evidence is what?
About time……a lot of European countries have these for years
Change Dáil bar into a coffee shop… Why do you need alcohol on the premises?
Cork City Council, should refuse licence too any pub that serves customers who are clearly over the limit. Problem solved, in 20 minutes.
@Jerry Hurley: person has a few at home before a night out , has a few more in pub . Staff thwn refuses to serve anymore . Person now drunk , problem is not solved is it ?
Brilliant idea, especially the mobile unit which picks people up. It’s really worrying seeing really drunk people passed out, even more so when it’s a woman because there’s a bigger chance that they could be taken advantage of by some evil person..
@Oiche Fairy: Lets call them “Paddy Wagons” to be historically correct as well. They did not work then and they might if staffed by medical staff with Gardai to back them up
Well they’ll probably have to drive themselves to the drunk tank, cos there won’t be any spare gards to take them.
They should also be charged a fee/fine for their care while incapacitated due to alcohol.
Should be implemented asap
When they say it costs the UK half a million pounds, do they compare it to the annual VAT take on alcohol? Maybe we pay more here on drink? Only wondering if the money has already, inexplicably, been spent on other things. Not that anyone begrudges all those TDs raising awareness in the Dáil bar, I hasten to add.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: sweet Jesus you talk a lot of rubbish with little or no basis
Anyone who’s on the ground drunk in Dublin City gets an ambulance & it’s such a waste of resources.
This is a good idea.
Great idea! Send them to drink tanks instead of A&E. Fine them €500 and put that money into education and rehab beds.
@Ciara Ni Mhurchu: *drunk tank!
I’m sure basic canteen facilities would be enough for most Garda….
We could make Shane Mc Gowan the commisioner
Shane McGowan got a great tune out of the drunk tank
What about a “Basket Tank” for Politicians with Stupid ideas, I think Minister Ross and the two Kerry cowboys could do with some time in this particular tank.
The dumbest fu(king thing I’ve heard in years. People who are pissed are in need of medical attention. What medical training do the Gardai have to deal with this. What a dope.
@FlyB: Agreed. You need training to distinguish a head injury or stroke from drunkenness.
Ah yes, the Silly season is upon us all right. What kind of an Idiot is he anyway?.
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