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

I apologise that I was a bit late at the beginning. I congratulate the three witnesses. I went to visit Tiglin a long time ago. The one thing that struck me about it was the 12 steps type model. It was not a religious kind of thing. It was the 12 steps and was about people, their well-being and the reality of life and everything else. I thought it was a wonderful model.

I thank Mr. Murphy for his powerful statement. His statement says that "now my life is overwhelming with hope" and I think that is something that we could all bring into our own lives. Sometimes our lives are not overwhelming with hope and certainly Mr. Murphy is a real inspiration to those working with him and above all to others in the programme. They see people coming out the other end. I believe it was said that 78% of people have some kind of qualification coming out.

When people leave somewhere like Tiglin, it does not always mean that they can go into another home. While that is correct, at least when people leave they have something to bring with them. Going in, they certainly did not have it but coming out they are different people and they have a future. I have met some people down through the years who have been through the programme. I would just like to say well done to the witnesses on that.

How does Tiglin continue to receive its referrals? How does that happen? Is there an age limit? I cannot remember because it was a number of years ago that I was there. I congratulate the witnesses. Tiglin is a model that we should really help. We have people like Mr. Murphy who are struggling in addiction and are probably put into a flat or one room and really they are lost because there is nothing happening around them. I do agree that people in a programme like this should be given some kind of rent supplement or rent allowance because Tiglin is actually housing them and is probably doing a much better job than is done by putting people into a room on their own.