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THE DEPUTY LORD Mayor of Dublin has likened the Health Minister to a dictator following his criticism of Dublin City Council’s decision to refuse planning permission for Ireland’s first supervised drug injecting centre.
Fianna Fáil councillor Tom Brabazon said he was “concerned” about the remarks made by Simon Harris this week, stating in defence of the council’s decision that good planning principles shouldn’t be “abandoned” to achieve a particular goal.
In July, the council refused planning permission for addiction and homelessness charity Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI) to build a medically supervised injecting facility (MSIF) at its Riverbank Centre on the city’s south quays.
The council said the move would be bad for the area and bad for tourism in the capital.
Speaking at the launch of MQI’s annual review for 2018 on Thursday, Minister Harris said he was delighted that the charity had launched an appeal against what he described as “a very disappointing decision by Dublin City Council”.
“People are dying on our streets, and we got to face up to it. It is working in other countries. So we’re going to fight this together. We are not going to shirk our responsibilities and we are going to get this supervised injection facility open,” Harris said during his speech.
The facility will bring drug-injecting into a medically controlled and supervised setting, with health and other benefits for vulnerable individuals. It will also reduce the negative impact of public injecting and drug-related litter on local communities and businesses.
At Thursday’s launch, MQI chief executive Paula Byrne said Ireland has the fourth-highest rate of drug-related deaths in Europe, adding that the charity is “deeply concerned” this figure could increase significantly in the coming years.
‘A dictatorship’
The 2016 Programme for Government contains a commitment to open an MSIF and laws were passed in 2017 allowing for such centres to open and be run legally.
Over 120 such facilities exist in countries across the world, including in Australia and Canada and plans for the Dublin centre had been in train for over three years.
At the time of its verdict, the council said that its decision had regard to an overconcentration of social support services in the Dublin 8 area and the lack of “robust policing plan and public realm plan”.
For that reason, the council said the development would go against the Dublin City Development Plan 2016-2022 and would, therefore, be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
A spokesperson for MQI said that An Garda Síochána (AGS) stated in their submission to the council that the crime legal section of AGS had “deemed it inappropriate to get involved in a planning application”.
“The submission noted that should planning permission be granted, they would then be in a position to draw up a policing plan in consultation with other stakeholders.”
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Deputy Lord Mayor Brabazon said the issue of insufficient garda resources was “a very valid concern in my view as there have to be sufficient resources to deal with them if trouble spills over”.
“That doesn’t mean that we sweep the problem of drug addiction under the carpet. We do have to deal with it, there’s no doubt about that, but I do have concerns about Simon Harris’ remarks.
I think it’s a dictatorship to be quite frank, it’s really wrong.
“We shouldn’t be abandoning good planning principles just simply to achieve a particular goal. What usually happens when we do that is we’ll start trouble for ourselves in the future,” Brabazon said.
A decision on MQI’s appeal is due in early January.
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How many were Irish born?
This is a worrying development.
What’s worrying about it? That 26 people went home to join the fight rather than sit on their arses and moan about it like us?
Go home and fight? The two lads who died were from Egypt and Libya. They were recruited to fight in Syria by jihadists.
Young men, living in Ireland, being recruited by jihadists is very worrying indeed.
If you don’t understand what’s worrying about it, you understand neither the conflict itself or the motivation of those who are prepared (hoping) to die to establish a fascist theocracy there.
Irish or “Irish”? Big difference.
They may have obtained Irish citizenship but they certainly were not Irish! But sure its the easiest passport in the world to get your hands on, just collect 10 tokens on special packs of rice Crispies or send $10 along with your new desired idendity to Olobom Uamama c/o Lagos Legitimate Passport Enterprises
Re Declan.
Well I have been saying for almost two years now that the majority of the ‘rebels’ are foreign religious nut jobs. While this report does not confirm that it does show what the Syrian government and people have been saying for a long time, that there are literally thousands of foreign people just showing up in Syria trying to implement Sharia law and commuting terrible atrocities.
Hopefully the Syrian government can defeat these foreign backed terrorists.
The new prime minister of the opposition’s interim government is from Dallas.
B Lowe, here’s the BS with you. You are critical of a “one man operation” out of a house in England commenting on what’s going on in Syria but you yourself are this “little one man operation” getting on here time after time telling us all “your truth” about endless conspiracies.
Get out of the shadows.
Very class Declan.
I am a one man nothing. I contribute to debates with information, you contribute with endless personal attacks.
No b Lowe, you don’t give any information. You have never given any reliable source to back up what you say. All you do is attack the west, the US and western media.
You are not a credible source for anything going on in the world.
And what are you saying dec? That there’s no outside influence fighting in Syria? Enlighten us when your contacts from Syria get back to you mmmkay
Well in fairness BLowe, this does pretty much blow your “Syrian opposition is mainly comprised of foreign terrorists” mantra clean out of the water.
We all know that foreign fighters are on the ground, but this study confirms that they only make up a small proportion of the muti-faceted anti-Assad forces.
Re Mattoid.
I actually green thumbed you there. Yes, this report does not show that the majority of the opposition are foreign religious nuts. This is correct.
However, I still believe the majority of the so called ‘rebels ‘ are foreign nationals intent on making Syria a secular state with Sharia law. I believe more concrete proof for this will come out as the proxy invasion continues.
I mean we have a Saudi minister saying 1,000 hardened criminals were released from Saudi jails and sent to cause mayhem in Syria. As long as this conflict continues the truth will get out slowly.
Thanks for the green thumb BLowe, but I have always argued with you that although foreign fighters are on the ground in Syria they only make up a small percentage of those fighting against Assad’s forces, and this report totally vindicates my position.
It also disproves your repeated assertion that the vast majority of anti-Assad fighters are foreign. You have just said that you still believe that to be the case (as is your prerogative) but unless you know something that these researchers (and their 450 cited sources) don’t then your stance is pretty irrational.
In addition, despite all your criticism of foreign fighters entering a conflict that has nothing to do with them you have never once referred to the Iranian soldiers known to have been sent in to support the Assad dictatorship.
Any red-haired Eugene O Shaughnassy’s on the list?
I hope the government and Gardai will bring these people upon return for questioning. The rebels are extreme Muslims. In fact they really are fascists.
Assad I hate but the rebels are dangerous. Better the devil you know.
The families of these Irish kids should also be questioned. Why are kids growing up in Ireland traveling around the world fighting to support religious extremism ? So much for being told our Muslim youths don’t have the same problems that France ,Britian etc have with their Muslim youths.
They are fighting oppression like the Irish people for years in the past
No they aren’t. They are fighting oppression to replace it with a fascist theocracy.
The rebels will bring a lot worse to that country with their extreme beliefs and actions. Best the lads out there stay out there.
Its worrying that these people may return to Ireland after being involved in this war,one can only imagine the things they have seen and done,I wonder can they possibly fit back into a society so very different than there own
B Lowe will be along soon to spout some verbal diarrhea
Hmmm….
Go for it!
B Lowe, I see that you are commenting on another article about the Newton shooting being a conspiracy. It’s all a conspiracy with you. You are not a critical thinker.
Re Declan.
????
B Lowe a critical thinker definitely not. Perhaps, a cynical thinker is a more apt description. An extremely cynical thinker.
After the disingenuous PC headline we have to read to the very last paragraph to be told that one of the ‘Irish’ lads killed in Syria was born in Libya, the other in Egypt — which just might, conceivably, have some connection with their reasons for signing up for the intra-Islamic sectarian civil war in Syria!?! While, as the study says, not all of these foreign fighters have al-Qaeda motivations, others probably do and more may become radicalised while over there. Like JaymiIreland I sure hope the Gardai here will be watching these potentially very dangerous ‘Irish lads’ when they return.
It’s a shame that our own media (including the Journal.ie) brainwashes us using false information and then some of us go and fight against the democratically-elected Syrian government. Pitty
Please show me some evidence of TheJournal.ie and other media organisations engaging in brainwashing.
Please show me some evidence that the Syrian government is democratically elected – multi-party elections have been banned there since the early 70′s!
That’s like enabling the Irish people to decide which member of FG they wish to lead the next government but banning SF, FF, Lab, independents etc.. from running! You can have any colour you like as long as its black!
Another student with more angst than knowledge bravely informing the ‘sheeple’ how misled they are. I am embarrassed for you.
I suppose these chaps are what the Irish Times calls “the New Irish.”…………… Yawn……….
Irish:-S
Islamic Religious nut jobs on both sides wishing to turn Syria into a new Iran or Saudi Arabia. 236 so called Irish people killed shows they have no loyalty to the Irish state and maybe we should re evaluate who is allowed to come to Ireland and avail of state services and citizenship. Other religious group who show scant regard to Ireland over the years would be the Catholic Church,Jewish, protestant groups loyalty to foreign entities.Religious belief is for the weak minded who are incapable of individual thought.
Are these people ethnically Irish, people who have moved to Ireland, or those who have manahed to get Irish citizenship ?
So what! Irish people have fighting in other peoples wars for centuries, look at the Spanish civil war, the American civil war not to mention the numerous Irish regiments in various armies throughout the world. The big worry for Ireland right now is that some of these ‘freedom fighters’ don’t get mixed up with the Islamic Jihadists and end up coming back to do harm in Ireland, the UK/US/EU or against any American interests or companies in Ireland. Unfortunately Ireland is seen as a soft touch with poor security and a lack of military means to defend it’s own territory by many terror groups, ie with a tiny navy (fishery protection force), no air force and a small under equipped army who can blame them!
The British have been very busy revoking the citizenship of the violent religious lunatics who have traveled from Britain to fight in Syria. I am sure we can all rest easy in our beds in the confidence that our own Government will follow suit. In about 15 years time.
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