A plea has gone out from the business community for a greater Garda presence to combat street begging and drug use in the city.
This week, hairdresser Robert O’Grady was threatened with a syringe after confronting three drug users.
Said Eleanor O’Brien, Irwin Jewellers, William Street: “It is something retailers have to deal with regularly.
“I have sympathy for those on the streets but it has become a major problem”.
Addressing the situation he was confronted with, Mr O’Grady said: “They were injecting heroin and I asked them to move.
“One turned and told me to get lost.
“When I told them I had called the Gardaí, one of the girls was injecting herself.
“She took the syringe and gave it to a man.. he threatened to stab me”.
He complained not enough is being done to tackle drug use.
He warns people to be conscious of who they are giving money to on the street.
“Many of the users are begging in the city centre, people are giving them money thinking they will buy a sandwich, but it’s all going into the pockets of drug dealers”.
The man who threatened him returned to same spot the next day.
“I told him that he had some neck”.
Commented Eleanor O’Brien.
“If you feel the need to donate it would be better to give to the Simon community”.
She says zero tolerance is the only answer, adding traders were frustrated because they cannot take the law into their own hands.
Inspector John O’Reilly of Henry Street, pointed out begging is not a criminal offence.
“If somebody is aggressive or harassing a member of the public, we would advise them to contact us.
“We have beat patrols operating daily”.
