Sinn Féin Councillor Eric Donovan has raised concerns about the increasing levels of Nitrous Oxide canisters across Drogheda and is warning parents to be vigilant.

Cllr Donovan said “When this was first raised by my colleague Cllr Joanna Byrne back in 2020 the canisters were ‘silver bullets’ and were small in size. Now here we are four years later and the trend is growing apace and the canisters are industrial sized and are referred to as ‘fast-gas’ and are being sold on the streets.

“The trend is also known colloquially as ‘doing balloons’, happy crack and silver bullets. Nitrous Oxide is also known as Laughing Gas but the long term effects of this trend are anything but a laughing matter.”

Cllr Donovan referred to a warning issued in 2022 by a neurology expert at the Mater Hospital who reported an increasing number of young people presenting with nerve damage as a result of inhaling Nitrous Oxide. Other effects among the young people were numbness, their sense of balance being off and deterioration in their mental health. There have even been reports of frostbite, burns around their lips and fingertips.

“Worryingly, a recent report published by the HSE reported that 22% of young people attending their Adolescent Addiction Service admitted to taking Nitrous Oxide and that is only young people that are attending these services. Many are not!

“As a father myself, it really scares me to think of the young people who are doing this without realising the harm they are doing to themselves and I want to alert parents of this trend. What they are doing is inhaling the Nitrous Oxide which cuts off oxygen to the brain making them feeling light-headed and giddy.””

"In the past few weeks, Sinn Féin TD Mark Ward (Dublin Mid-West) introduced legislation to regulate the sale of Nitrous Oxide to commercial use only similar to Holland where they have legislation to regulate this gas outside of medical and catering industries.

"This legislation will give not criminalise young people for possession of Nitrous Oxide but will give Gardaí the power to seize the canisters from those without licences to sell them or be in possession of them.

However, in the meantime, Cllr Donovan concluded “I am appealing to parents to be aware of the dangers of this gas and to educate your children as to the harm that it can cause. Please know where your children are and what they are doing.”