Andrew Carey
EMERGENCY services were called to City Hall this Wednesday morning when a woman was found unconscious and without a pulse after she injected a lethal dose of heroin into her arm in the toilets at the front of the civic buildings.
The woman, a known heroin addict, was found slumped in the toilets near the front door to City Hall where members of the public, elected councillors and civil servants conduct the running of daily business in Limerick city.
Two other associates of the woman were found in an adjacent laneway also injecting the drugs into their arms.
It is understood that after the woman fell into a state of unconsciousness, her friends fled the scene leaving her behind.
Emergency Medical Technicians from the Ambulance Service, along with members of An Garda Siochana present at the Limerick District Court building, were deployed to the scene to proved assiatance to the unconscious woman.
She was given life saving treatment and an injection of nalaxone, a drug used to combat the effects of a heroin overdose. She was then taken to University Hospital Limerick for further treatment.
A male and a female were arrested a short time after and taken to Henry Street Garda Station on the suspicion of being in possession of drugs.
Last November it emerged that security staff were to be introduced outside Limerick City Hall following a consultation involving Gardai, the prison service, the court service and council officials.
The plan was to tackle to and address the traffic congestion that occurs outside the adjacent court building when they are in session.
The proposed staffing and security measures, including the erection of new barriers restricting access, were to also deal with the large numbers that gather on the steps of the building.
A spokesperson for City Hall confirmed that a woman sought access to the toilet at the front of the building when she asked for the key. However, three women entered the toilet prior to the woman being discovered in an unresponsive state.
The council spokesperson said that the Council would not be commenting any further as gardai made arrests in connection with the incident.
