Government “sleepwalking into nitrous oxide disaster” says Ward

Sinn Féin spokesperson on community safety, Mark Ward TD, has called out the government’s inaction to the harms of nitrous oxide.

The Dublin Mid-West TD was speaking following reports of four-fold increases in hospital admissions due to nitrous oxide misuse.

Ward accused the government of “sleepwalking into a nitrous oxide disaster”

He said I” have been raising the serious harm that nitrous oxide poses to our communities for years, and on a monthly basis, we are seeing new reports of the dangers to health that nitrous oxide is having, mainly to young people.

“The latest is a study published in the Irish Medical Journal which reported a four-fold increase in hospital admissions due to nitrous oxide misuse. There were four times as many admissions in Q4 2023 as there was in Q1 2020,” Ward relayed.

Other studies state there is an increase in long-lasting spinal cord damage from misuse. The average age for the people in these studies is in their late teens or early 20’s.

As well as nerve damage, the cannisters themselves also cause freeze burns to hands, lips and the throat, due to the drop in temperature when the gas is released.

“What have the government done to tackle this? Unfortunately, they have done worse than nothing,” Ward said.

“They actually voted to delay my legislation that would have regulated the sale of nitrous oxide, making it more difficult to be sold for misuse on our streets. They kicked this down the road until October.

“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael do not see the urgency here. They are sleepwalking into a nitrous oxide disaster,” Ward warned.

“My fear is that while they delay in regulating the sale of nitrous oxide, more young people will be harmed.

“I want to see action so that our young people can be protected from harm, and I want to see that action now, not months or years down the road.”