Forensic test to determine cause of fire at head shop

A FORENSIC examination has been carried out to determine what caused a fire that broke out at the Happy Hippy head shop on North Frederick Street on Tuesday night.

No one was injured in the fire, which broke out shortly before 9.30pm, but there was some minor damage to the front of the building.

Last Friday, the Nirvana head shop and a number of neighbouring outlets on Capel Street were destroyed in a fire that began at about 6am, when local residents reported hearing a loud bang coming from the outlet.

Although a link between the two fires has not been established, there has been speculation that the incidents are related to a widespread campaign against head shops.

There have also been suggestions the fires may be linked to action by inner city drug dealers who are upset over the amount of money being made from legal highs. Almost €500,000 in cash was found under the floorboards of the Nirvana head shop following the fire.

The Labour Party has called for the fast-tracking of legislation to outlaw so-called legal highs as an investigation into the fires continue.

Speaking yesterday, Joe Costello, Labour TD for Dublin South Central and a member of the Inner City Drugs Task Force, said there was anger among local people about products sold in head shops in the capital. He also voiced concern about the possibility of someone being seriously injured in a head shop fire.

Regulations that will outlaw a range of products sold as legal highs in head shops across the State are expected to be introduced later this year.

However, Mr Costello yesterday called for legislation to be brought forward to outlaw such products within weeks.

“There has been real anger in the local community over the failure of the authorities to act in relation to head shops because a lot of young people around the area are customers buying products from them which mimic illegal drugs,” he said.

The Labour Party has put forward legislation aimed at ensuring that head shops must obtain separate planning applications for change of use of retail outlets to allow local communities to raise objections to them.

Separately, Fine Gael’s health spokesman Dr James Reilly yesterday called for an amendment to the Finance Bill, currently going through the Dáil, to require head shops to have an operating licence.

Speaking in the Dáil, Dr Reilly said there was sufficient evidence of the health threat posed by the products on sale in such shops which should see them subject to licensing.

“The sale of alcohol is subject to licensing laws and opening hours regulation, but head shops can operate on a 24-hour basis regardless of the substances they are selling,” he said.

“Must we wait until someone dies after taking a substance on sale in a head shop? Or is it the Government’s strategy to hope that they burn down one by one?”