Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Kelly and Mr. Murphy for their presentations. This is one of the best ideas I have seen in a long time. The whole issue of herbal drugs is something I would be familiar with in my own constituency. I am glad to hear that the HSE and Tusla have helped to produce a document. I have not had a chance to read much of it at this stage, but the information card is very important.

I remember that when the drugs problem was at its height in the inner city, a small group of parents came together to organise groups and information sessions highlighting the drugs issue to young people. The problem is right across the country, in every corner of every town and outside the towns. Herbal highs are very attractive to young people, in particular, and they are marketed very well.

We have just gone through a whole rigmarole with cigarette packaging and we are going through the process of introducing minimum pricing of alcohol. Looking at the price of this drug on the street, €20 would buy 20 bottles of beer rather than one package of the drug. Where are young people getting the money? Has crime increased in the area? Have there been more break-ins and burglaries? Anywhere we see people hitting hard on drug, we will get the bounce-back in criminal activity. Unfortunately the users themselves often turn to criminal activity to fund their own personal use, which is very sad.

I did not read the community-based study because I did not have time. The one thing that struck me from what I read was the line from one of the participants that "[t]here's only one way of getting off herbal and that's taking yourself out of this life." For me that is very stark.

What has been done to educate parents on this? As parents, we live in a bubble and think our children are far beyond doing anything wrong. On the ground in communities, there are opportunities to bring parents in through schools, local groups or the family resource centres.

What happens to the people the witnesses have met on the street and in the resource centre, who have given their sad and poignant stories? What do we do with people like that? What channel can they be put into? Is there a detox programme for them and, if not, why not? Our job here is to listen to the witnesses and to try to find some solutions to help their work.