Sinn Féin spokesperson on Addiction, Recovery and Wellbeing Thomas Gould TD has today welcomed news that a HSE pilot anonymous drug-checking facility will operate at Electric Picnic this year.

Teachta Gould said:

“This is a positive day for harm reduction in this state. This facility has the potential to save lives and protect young people from potential harm.

“It has been a long time coming, with a commitment first made in 2020 by Minister Frank Feighan, but it is great to see that this will finally happen now.

“We need to see this pilot rolled out alongside education programmes that will warn young people of the potential harms associated with drugs.

“I want to again encourage the government to consider, based on the success of this pilot, inclusion of drug checking as a condition of licensing for similar major events and festivals as we see in other European countries.

“Saving lives has to be a number one priority in harm reduction and today’s announcement could be a huge step forward in reducing drug fatalities and hospitalisations at major festivals.”