The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, has requested a report from the newly-appointed Garda Commissioner on an incident in Dublin where gardaí were photographed standing near injecting drug addicts but did not arrest them.
Minister McDowell was responding to questions posed following the publication of photographs in a national newspaper in which three drug addicts were shown injecting drugs in Dublin city centre.
The photographs, published in today's Irish Independentshow gardaí interviewing the youths and taking their details at various times over a day.
The youths, however, were not arrested and they moved on from the location after several hours.
Minister McDowell said there was a serious cause for concern if the men had not been arrested and searched.
He said "The public generally are entitled to expect that when an indictable offence appears to be committed in a public place that it is dealt with in a manner which is proportionate to the seriousness of the offence."
He has requested a report on the matter from the newly-appointed Garda Commissioner, Mr Noel Conroy.
Labour's justice spokesman Mr Joe Costello said "To anyone with any knowledge of life on the streets in the centre of the capital, these pictures can hardly come as a huge surprise."
He added: "Stricter enforcement by the gardai and improved resources for facilities and education to wean addicts off must be implemented immediately."