Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for being with us this afternoon. From the point of view of the Garda, what importance does the Assistant Commissioner place on the need to have an indoor facility treating people who are addicts as opposed to having an uncontrolled treatment centre on the street, on stairwells and in unhygienic situations? What degree of emphasis does he place on the controlled centre?

From the Assistant Commissioner's point of view, what is the most effective example to give children in the course of their recreational hours on the way to and from school? I believe we know the answer to the question but it is no harm to hear it repeated. I have seen young people studying in the stairwells surrounded by used needles, users and injectors, which is hardly a good example for the next generation. How does the Assistant Commissioner value the need to have a facility that caters specifically for addicts who are in that situation without excluding them from society?

On the issue of the influence of open street injection in areas that are economically and socially challenged, has the Garda made comparisons with other jurisdictions as to the extent to which controlled injection centres can be of quantifiable benefit? I believe we also know the answer to that question.

I wish to make two further points. One relates to licensing oversight, which was raised with the witnesses who made the previous submissions, and the importance of preserving the integrity of the injection centres and to ensure they are not in any way interfered with by those engaged in the illicit drug trade who would have vested interest and an ambition in making intrusions into that area. How does the Assistant Commissioner foresee that those engaged in the illicit drug trade, who are very powerful as is very evident, could be prevented from attempting to gain access to treatment facilities of any nature, but particularly of this nature? By what means could the Garda intervene to prevent interference by the illicit drug trade? To what degree does the Assistant Commissioner foresee the injection centres competing in the marketplace, in other words, to draw people who are vulnerable addicts into a control system as opposed to allowing them free-fall in the open streets and thereby become victims of the traffickers?