Hospital staff and gardaí have been accused of failing to take the suspected spiking of drinks seriously after an incident involving the family member of a local politician.
Fianna Fáil Cllr Audrey Buckley believes proper protocols are not in place to deal with such incidents. “They’re not logged anywhere, so there are no statistics because nobody’s listening,” she said.
Ms Buckley made the claim as she spoke of a family member who was out with five friends on the night of the Leaving Certificate results in August. “They were only an hour in this place and she had had one drink” and an ambulance was called when she passed out.
The student was brought to Cork University Hospital (CUH) close to midnight. The teenager was “passing in and out of consciousness, her body was shaking. It was absolutely horrific.”
RM Block
Ms Buckley said in suspected spiking cases the drugs only last a few hours in the system so “it’s important to get blood tests done within a certain time”. However, despite asking several times for bloods to be taken, medical personnel would not do so until the doctor saw her.
“It was nearly 5am before a doctor saw her and she was coming out of it then.”
Cllr Buckley said that at 2am, “we weren’t getting anywhere and I rang the guards to come to the hospital to take a statement”.
Head-to-head: Presidential election gets confrontational
Gardaí arrived but “the guard said, ‘when has she done this before? What has she taken? He was being very, ‘you know, it’s the Leaving Certificate’. He wasn’t listening to me. He wasn’t taking me seriously.”
The Carrigaline councillor said she has heard so many reports of spiking and “people are normalising it because nothing’s being done”.
She has made a complaint to CUH and has also sought a report from gardaí, “but I still haven’t gotten that yet”.
The case was raised in the Dáil by Fianna Fáil Cork South-Central TD Séamus McGrath. “Because it was Leaving Certificate night, there was an assumption that she had drank too much,” he said.
The Government “needs to be far more alert to this and put in place a significant strategy to deal with it,” because of the potential consequences of spiking incidents. “If we don’t follow through on this, it will become a much bigger issue,” he said.
Minister of State for Justice Niall Collins said the programme for government commits to introducing stronger laws to combat spiking. They will progress the work “to strengthen the law, ensuring those who carry out this cowardly act face the serious consequences they deserve”.
HSE South West said: “In suspected cases of drink-spiking, staff at CUH ED provide emergency clinical management of the physical symptoms related to poisoning, intoxication or physical injury”.
The statement added: “Consistent with international Emergency Department practice, the ED at CUH does not provide a forensic toxicology service. Individuals who are victims of a suspected drink-spiking should contact an An Garda Síochána.”
The Garda said it does not comment on remarks made by third parties.
It said, “all reports of spiking are treated with the highest level of seriousness”.
There are “clear protocols in place” and “gardaí undertake comprehensive investigations into each case, including toxicology analysis where necessary, to determine the circumstances and nature of the incident”.
Gardaí rejected claims of no statistics, that an analysis of spiking incidents was published in May 2024 with an overview of incidents between 2010 and 2023.
