Hundreds of pills have been found scattered around a children's playground at an apartment complex in Dublin.
The pills, later identified as a "strong" version of paracetemol not usually sold in Ireland, were collected by a resident at the Mercer Court development off St Stephen's Green, who said that they had been “dropped like the trail of breadcrumbs from Hansel and Gretel”.
The issue was highlighted by Cllr Mannix Flynn, who said that he receives "hundreds of calls" each week relating to crime and anti-social behaviour in his constituency and called on Dublin City Council to investigate the discovery.
He added that a handful of the tablets would have been enough to cause a child to overdose, resulting in possible liver or kidney damage.
“People say these are minor incidents, but that’s not the case. If you leave a child in a playground and that child says they’ve taken a tablet, the panic and alarm and the hours in hospital waiting for tests are devastating for a family,” he told the Irish Independent.
“Hundreds of these tablets were strewn across all over the play ground area. It’s alarming. There are lots of children playing around the place. What’s next? Needles and other drug paraphernalia. It’s a constant thing out there. It’s not a rare occasion.”
