A bill to ban spiking has been “sitting on a desk” since 2023

Spiking is already a stand alone offence in the north, with a potential 10 year sentence.

Spiking is usually when someone is administered a drug or chemical without their knowledge or permission in a night club or bar. Others report being spiked through injection or smoking a laced vape or e-cigarette.

An alleged spiking incident is being reported to gardaí on average once every six days, Garda figures show.

A total of 339 cases of a person's drink being spiked or an individual being unknowingly injected with a drug were reported between January 2021 and December 2025.

Official figures provided to Sinn Féin TD Mark Ward showed that 61 cases were reported in 2021, 107 in 2022, 52 in 2023, 61 in 2024 and 58 in 2025.

However, Garda numbers are thought to be an underestimation, given the low rate of reporting.

Data from the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU) shows that of the 1,021 people who attended the six SATUs in 2025, 209 people, or 19%, expressed specific concern that the incident may have involved spiking.

A further 181 people were unsure whether their sexual assault had occurred due to spiking.

The Sexual Violence Centre in Cork says there "is a strong link," between spiking and the rise of the manosphere.

"Our experience from talking to people over the past two years or so, there is an awful lot of spiking done just to do it. We have heard it referred to as a Take Them Down game and it is phenomenally sinister," said Dola Twomey, who works at the centre said.

No reported instance of spiking since 2022 has been prosecuted under current Offences Against the Person laws.

The bill, tabled by Fine Gael's Regina Doherty would create a specific offence of spiking, including administering or injecting a substance without a person's consent with the intention of overpowering or sedating them, engaging in a sexual act, causing harm, making a gain or loss, or facilitating another offence.

Following the dissolution of the previous Dáil, the Bill was restored to the Dáil Order Paper on 1 May 2025 and is currently awaiting Dáil Second Stage.

“We brought forward this legislation in May 2023 because we believed spiking needed to be explicitly recognised in Irish law. We drafted the Bill, did the work and got it through every stage of the Seanad by October 2023," Doherty (now an MEP) said.

“Three years later, it cannot be allowed to sit on a desk while spiking continues to damage lives. It is before the Dáil and it is time to get it on the agenda.

“The Programme for Government commits to stronger laws to combat spiking. We have the commitment. We have the legislation. Now we need the urgency from the Minister for Justice to get it passed."