THE issuing of syringes may have to be looked at because of their growing use as a disposable weapon of attack, the Fianna Fail leader told the House.

Mr Bertie Ahern said many people used them on a daily basis for legitimate and life saving reasons: "However, there are too many stories of children finding needles in playgrounds and on the street. The danger they pose is far too great to go unaddressed."

He was speaking during the resumed debate on his party's private member's Punishment of Aggravated Robbery Bill, which proposed a series of sentences for possession and use of syringes and similar offensive weapons. The Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, has announced that she will introduce legislation providing a sentence of life imprisonment for the offence of piercing a person's skin with a syringe containing infected blood or pouring infected blood over a person.

The Fianna Fail Bill was defeated by 75 votes to 65.