Professor Joe Barry:

Senator Colm Burke asked about services in Cork. What would be of help is what we are trying to do nationally. I do not know what the numbers are, but I would make a proper needs assessment with a recovery focus. We are trying to shift the balance and that needs to happen all across the service. That is what I would do if I was in Cork. I reiterate this in replying to Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor's question because it is the hardest one. What happens if the giving of methadone stops? We are trying to shift the focus. Most people want to do this, but that does not mean it will happen. Treatment and rehabilitation were always linked in our previous drugs strategies. Therefore, we are recommending a new strategy of recovery to give it a focus, but it needs people with knowledge who have seen it work. There are pathways to recovery, including Soilse, but there are just not enough of them. It might not take a huge amount to flip the coin around in order that when somebody addicted to opiates presents to the health service, the professionals will sit down with him or her in a few sessions and outline the options to genuinely involve him or her more. Equally, issues such as dyslexia and so on can be game changers. The devil is in the detail of the assessment which has to have a recovery focus. Initially when methadone was introduced, it was meant to be detoxification.