Permission for drug injection facility near school rejected

Mr Justice Simons said one of the striking features of the proposed development was that it was to be located adjacent to a primary school

The facility, run by the existing Merchant's Quay Ireland (MQI) project providing medical services and needle exchange for drug users among other things, would be set up in a basement area of the existing Riverbank Centre premises providing booths where users can inject themselves and remain for some 30 minutes afterwards.

Planning permission for Ireland's first medically supervised heroin injection facility at Merchant's Quay in Dublin has been quashed by the High Court.

Mr Justice Garrett Simons said An Bord Pleanála had failed to explain why it had decided to grant temporary permission for the facility for three years in circumstances where its own inspector had recommended two years.