New city bridge is a hotspot for drug dealing

Open drug dealing and use has been an issue of consistent concern to residents of the areas surrounding University College Cork.

The issue was raised on Tuesday night, 19 May, at the latest meeting of the UCC Area Neighbourhood Safety Forum.

One attendee said the problem had become worse along French’s Quay, and had grown worse following the completion of the Séamus Murphy Bridge at Proby’s Quay.

Drug dealing in the area has been a priority for local gardaí to tackle, but the meeting heard that “in the last two weeks it’s fallen off a bit”.

“It’s actually frightening to see the number of transactions that take place out there. There’s a bus stop there, and so many tourists, so many people that are coming into the area.

“We mightn’t have that tourism level for much of the winter time, but certainly during the summer time, and some of the stuff happening outside the doors, it’s lethal,” they said.

Community Garda Laura O’Connor said the Séamus Murphy Bridge has been a hotspot for drug dealing since it opened.

She said that local businesses have been highlighting the issue with her and her colleagues in the last few weeks, and advised residents to contact their community garda directly if they do witness drug dealing.

The meeting also heard about the need for a safe injection centre for the city. Eoin Murphy, Operations Manager at St Finbarr’s Cathedral, highlighted the issue again, having done so and spoken to the Cork Independent about it in March earlier this year.

Sandy McGroarty, who represented the Local Community Safety Partnership at last night’s meeting, said that all stakeholders are firmly behind a safe injection centre, but that it was not within the powers of the local authority to establish. However, she said following the publication of a report from the pilot scheme currently being carried out in Dublin at Merchants’ Quay, she was optimistic that one of the recommendations would be the rollout of a centre in Cork and elsewhere.

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.