Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Apologies for being late. The traffic was very bad. I thank Ms McDonald for her presentation. I have a few queries around the training of judges, gardaí and the area of addiction. We know that for a lot of those people in prison who are perpetrators of crime, addiction is very much involved. I do not know what the statistics are on how many people are in prison because addiction has brought them there but I imagine it is quite a high figure. Does Ms McDonald believe it to be a good idea for the police, judges and members of the Irish Prison Service to be trained in understanding the disorder of addiction? When somebody who is in addiction presents at court having committed a crime, judges could look at the possibility of giving them the option of a referral to an addiction treatment centre. Would that be one way forward? Many people in such cases are in addiction, albeit not all of them obviously. Instead of asking them to pay a fine or giving them community service, could this be an option? I agree with Deputy Wallace that it is a huge cultural change. It is important to implement all of the reports that have already been produced. Great work has been done on reports but there has been very little implementation. My question is on the disorder of addiction and how it can be addressed when it comes to crime.