Press release

Sinn Féin to Protest Outside Nirvana Head Shop this Saturday

As part of its ongoing campaign against legal highs in Cork, Sinn Féin is organising a protest outside the Nirvana head shop on Oliver Plunkett Street this Saturday at 1pm.

The protest follows a successful picket outside the mmMad head shop on Saturday week, which was attended by almost thirty Sinn Féin activists and members of the public. Several hundred signatures were collected in less than an hour calling for an end to this legal form of drug-dealing.

Cork City council also agreed last Monday night to refer a Sinn Fein motion calling for the establishment of a civic forum on the issue to the council’s joint policing committee. The forum would include elected representatives, council officials, the Gardai, members of the business community, and any others with an interest in tackling the proliferation of head shops.

Encouraging people to join the protest, Sinn Féin Cllr Jonathan O’Brien stated: “Drug dealing is drug dealing, whether it is hidden down a back alley or done openly over the counter of a head shop. Sinn Féin wants a comprehensive system of regulation which would put the onus on the owners of head shops to prove their products are safe for human consumption, and effectively end the sale of legal highs. There are encouraging signs in the past week that the government is at last moving to this position. However, we must keep the pressure up. I would encourage parents and all those concerned about the impact of drugs on our communities to join us on Oliver Plunkett Street on Saturday.”

For further information contact Cllr Jonathan O’Brien @ 085-2133907 or Cllr Thomas Gould @ 087-3021551