McDowell queries drug arrest policy after street incident

THE Minister for Justice Michael McDowell is investigating claims that drug addicts injecting themselves on the streets are not being arrested by gardaí.

Mr McDowell was speaking after shocking images of men shooting up in the Temple Bar area of Dublin were published in a national newspaper yesterday. The photographs showed gardaí standing close to the men but apparently no effort was made to arrest the offenders.

The minister has asked Deputy Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy for a report on the matter. Gardaí have already confirmed that the three men claimed they were attending a drug treatment clinic and they were told to move on.