Behind the News: Daragh Connolly, pharmacist

Daragh Connolly has a strong sense of empathy with and sympathy for the pharmacist who is recovering from being stabbed in a pharmacy in Drogheda, Co Louth, on Tuesday morning. This is because Connolly himself was the victim of a physical assault in his Dungarvan, Co Waterford pharmacy a few years ago.

“Our thoughts are with our colleague, his family and the wider pharmacy community in Drogheda and we wish him a speedy recovery,” Connolly says. “I know what it feels like because I confronted a couple who were stealing from my pharmacy a few years ago.”

Connolly was punched, kicked and spat at during that incident. He fended off the attackers while another member of staff set off the panic button. Gardaí arrived within minutes. Charges were duly brought against the attacker and, several months later, a short custodial sentence was given to the perpetrators.

Connolly believes such short sentences are not a deterrent to a small minority of people carrying out these attacks.

"Increasingly, our members are becoming victims of crime, and the extremely lenient penalties handed down by the courts are not proving to be a deterrent in comparison to the impact a crime like this can have on the pharmacist, their staff and the wider local community," says Connolly, who is vice-president of the Irish Pharmacy Union.

Three out of four pharmacists are the victim of some level of crime, according to an IPU survey of its 2,000 members last year.

“Pharmacists are on the front line,” says Connolly. “And while the majority of these crimes are theft, breach of the peace or a verbal attack, there are also rare incidents of pharmacists being attacked with syringes, knives or threatened with guns.

“I see a disregard for other people’s civil rights and property held by a tiny minority of people. The big issue is that when these individuals are out on remand or bail, they feel they can do as much damage as they like because they won’t get a long sentence.”

Security measures such as closed-circuit television and panic alarms are standard in pharmacies throughout Ireland. “We also have security arrangements for dispensing and for night time security through protocols we have set up with the gardaí to make pharmacies very safe and secure,” said Connolly.

However, the risks remain.

“We’re very concerned about a very small cohort of people who have no fear of the gardaí or the criminal justice system,” he says. “But we are also acutely aware of helping people get on with their lives through treatment programmes.”

Ultimately, pharmacists such as Connolly are cogently aware of their responsibilities to the community as a whole.

“We look after everyone,” he states. “We see people who are very sick, those who are managing illnesses and those looking for advice.

“The weakest point in all of this is people dealing with drug addiction. We want to get those people better and back making a contribution to society. We don’t want to segregate people and turn pharmacies into banks with high security and glass screens between us and the customer.”