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

I will respond to Deputy Murphy O'Mahony first. She is right and so is Deputy Chambers. I have my own views on SPHE and how it is taught in schools. I totally agree with the Deputy and I have spoken to this committee before, when I was on the opposite side of the room, about how teachers who are teaching mathematics and English one minute are in another room teaching SPHE the next minute. I am not fully convinced that that is what should be done. I believe that it is too important to have SPHE as just a subject in between everything else. There should be somebody in there teaching young people. It is about well-being and self-confidence because all of that builds who one is. I agree with the Deputy on that. As a mother who was involved for many years in schools and on parents' councils, I always felt that even though the teachers did their very best, sometimes it was difficult for teachers who had been in a classroom teaching Irish, English or whatever subject, to then go in to children and talk to them about their well-being, their sexuality, drugs and everything else. In my opinion, some teachers felt at the time that it was not really their job. I spoke to the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Richard Bruton, the other evening about this whole aspect and I have asked him to have a look at it as well.

Deputy O'Reilly and I know very well the reason this legislation is being introduced. It is to assist and to help An Garda Síochána and the other services in situations where somebody is on a street and has a quantity of drugs in their possession, even if the drugs may be legal. We all know the situation. Deputy O'Reilly knows better than I do, as does her party colleague Deputy Mary Lou McDonald, who is part of the north inner city forum and is aware of the complex needs that are out there, particularly in certain parts of the city. Deputy McDonald said it herself at a meeting we attended that it is unlikely that An Garda Síochána is going to target the people who are unfortunate enough to be caught with maybe one or two tablets in their pocket. The people out there now who are selling drugs are very clever. I have every confidence that on the streets on which they walk the beat every day of the week, the gardaí know the people they are targeting. This is not about targeting addicts. It is about targeting people who are at the top end and the criminal end of the scale. From listening to Deputy McDonald in the Dáil and in others areas, I believe that this is only a small part of what needs to be done. In saying that, it does give An Garda Síochána and the customs officers the opportunity to be able to seize those kinds of drugs. That is the reason for the Bill.

Regarding Suboxone, I do not mean to be dismissive of Deputy Chambers because I know where he is coming from. The introduction of Suboxone requires amendments to the regulations. This Bill unlocks the regulations so that Suboxonecan be made available. As I said, from talking to medical professionals in the Department, Suboxone is not going to be the answer for everybody on methadone. There are some people who just cannot take it for medical reasons. However, it is not off the table. It is very much on the table. We will come back to it.

In response to Deputy O'Connell, I am very aware in the parish I live in of the role the pharmacist plays in educating people about drug addiction, in providing methadone treatment and, in general, being the eyes and ears of people who have addiction problems who come into the chemist on a regular basis. I have the greatest of praise for those people, who, like the Deputy, have had to deal with people coming in with forged prescriptions on a daily basis. I know it takes time, but if we want to tackle the sources and the big players, everybody has to play a role in it. I can only stand over the role that I know the pharmacist in my own community plays, even in identifying people.

Pharmacists do not send people away because they have a problem. They help them. I believe that is very much the role that most pharmacists play.