TWO HUNDRED people marched in protest against a head shop in Donegal town on Easter Saturday, five days after a live bomb was planted at its sister shop in Letterkenny.
Fine Gael TD Dinny McGinley, Fianna Fáil Senator Brian Ó Dómhnaill, Sinn Féin Senator Pearse Doherty and Independent MEP Marian Harkin joined the march, which stopped to deliver a protest letter to the Donegal town shop. It sells so-called “legal highs” that mimic the effects of hash, cocaine and ecstasy.
The 19-year-old manager accepted a letter of protest to pass on to the shop owner but she complained that one allegation that she served under-18s was untrue.
One woman approached her with a banner but was restrained by stewards and quickly rejoined the march.
The manager, who refused to give her name, said: “I wasn’t upset about the march. I knew it would be peaceful,but I do worry about bombs being planted at the door.
“The shop is doing great business. Why don’t these people protest against the pubs and off-licences as well?”
A week ago the Army deemed a device planted at the Letterkenny shop Yutopia to be viable with all the components necessary for it to explode.
A bomb-control officer carried out a controlled explosion.
Earlier last month, €7,000 worth of equipment was stolen from the Donegal town shop, while in Sligo, another shop with the same owner was partly damaged by fire. Speakers at the Saturday parade called for the shop to be shut down, not simply have its “legal highs” outlawed as the Government plans to do in June.
Mr Ó Dómhnaill said the Minister for the Environment John Gormley was planning to introduce changes to the planning laws.
“I will move to close down these shops, ” he said.