There has been an increase in reports.
Gardaí have found no evidence that needle spiking has occurred in Ireland after an investigation into multiple claims of people being drugged this way in nightclubs last year.
When nightclubs reopened briefly in 2021, there were 39 reports of "spiking by injection" to the Gardaí, with none being reported so far in 2022 since the nightclubs opened again last week.
The
Irish Examiner has revealed that while investigations remain ongoing, Gardai are yet to find any evidence of an incident that confirmed substances had been injected by needles.
This news comes after a surge in claims of "needle spiking" occurred in the UK last autumn as many women warned of being spiked by needles or syringes in bars and nightclubs, before the same claims started being made in Ireland.
The symptoms included feeling nausea and dizziness on their night out and finding puncture marks or bruises on their skin the next day.
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As well as incidents here being reported to Gardaí, awareness campaigns were led by students to highlight the danger of needle spiking, with Higher Education Minister Simon Harris describing it as a "worrying phenomenon."
In a statement to the
Irish Mirror on Tuesday, a Garda spokesperson said: "An Garda Siochana has confirmed that it has received a number of reports (39 in total), relating to allegations of ‘spiking by injections’, specifically during the last quarter of 2021. There have been no reports to date in 2022.
“An Garda Síochána has taken all these reports seriously and investigations are ongoing to determine the exact nature of each incident. While investigations continue, to date, An Garda Síochána has not determined conclusively that any reported incident of potential ‘drug spiking’ was as a direct result of ‘spiking by injection’."
“An Garda Siochana continues to engage with partner agencies (HSE, HPSC, HPRA) monitoring the current reporting of these matters for any identified patterns. An Garda Siochana does not comment on behalf of other agencies but understands that this pattern has not been identified by medical professionals at this time.”
They added that anyone who has been spiked in any form to come forward and report these incidents.
