An expert in medically supervised injection centres (MSICs) has said that such a facility in Dublin will help the capital solve the problem of public drug use.
Dr Marianne Jauncey, director of an MSIC in Kings Cross in Sydney, has been watching Ireland's move towards opening injection centres with interest.
The Cabinet approved new legislation this week giving the green light for a trial centre to open in Dublin.
There are many parallels with what Ireland is experiencing at the moment with what happened in Australia before the Sydney centre opened in 2001.
Confusion
"There was lots of confusion, poor understanding and misconceptions about what it was and what it meant," she said.
Community support for the centre was strong in the Kings Cross area at the time and has steadily increased since then.
"Kings Cross has been the site of the sale, purchase and use of drugs for many, many decades, so the community was well aware of the problems.
"It was they who had to walk over bodies, it was they who stepped over needles and paraphernalia, who heard the roar of ambulances.
"They were dealing with it in an in-your-face way, so the community have always been supportive."
Source: Laura Larkin, Evening Herald, 17/12/15
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