Cork solicitor issues warning after family friend has drink spiked in city centre pub

Patrick Horan said a woman had told him of four other recent spiking cases in Cork

Last month, the Cork Sexual Violence Centre launched a campaign for spiking to be the subject of new, standalone legislation. File picture: iStock

A well-known solicitor is urging people to be wary on nights out after a family friend was "spiked" while celebrating in Cork City.

Patrick Horan said a friend’s daughter collapsed while on a night out in Cork city centre on July 5. She had been celebrating a friend’s engagement and had been drinking water when she collapsed in a pub. 

A doctor, who was on the premises, raised the alarm, and the woman only became conscious on her way to hospital in an ambulance. She made contact with her mother from the hospital at around 9am on the morning of July 6.

“She was quite groggy from it," Mr Horan said. While the young woman recovered physically, she was “traumatised by it, that feeling of not knowing what had happened”.

He said he received a call from a woman in recent days following a post on social media warning about the spiking incident. She told him of four other recent cases in Cork.

Mr Horan told the Irish Examiner: "I was not aware that it was as prevalent as it is. This is clearly a problem and is a bigger issue than I thought.

“These people are out there and are targeting women and looking for any vulnerability whatsoever. They are hanging around pubs and targeting women.” 

Last month, the Cork Sexual Violence Centre launched a campaign for spiking to be the subject of new, standalone legislation. A motion at the National Women’s Council annual general meeting seeking the support of the council was passed. 

Currently, spiking by either injection or by putting a substance in a drink is an offence under the Non-Fatal Against the Persons Act 1997. The Programme for Government promised the introduction of “stronger laws to combat the spiking of drinks”.

Garda figures show that there were almost 190 incidents of spiking reported to them between January 2022 and December 2025. However, there have been no prosecutions brought in any of the cases, according to minister for justice Jim O’Callaghan.

He admitted in May that there is no court data available in relation to spiking because it is not a standalone crime.

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He said then that spiking by injection or by putting a substance in a drink “are, in effect, poisoning, and are criminal offences under the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997, that can result in a three-year prison term”.

Mr O'Callaghan added: “Depending on the nature of the substance that is administered, it may be possible to charge a perpetrator with endangerment under section 13 of the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act 1997. 

"This provides that it is an offence to intentionally or recklessly engage in conduct which creates a substantial risk of death or serious harm to another. The offence of endangerment carries a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment.”