Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 11 December 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will comment briefly on the issue of drug addiction. I want to reinforce the point the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, made about stigma. I spent approximately two hours at a private meeting of families impacted by addiction last night. It is a weekly addiction family support meeting in Dublin which I was kindly allowed to attend. The issue of stigma came up over and over again and the fact that we always talk about the addict but not the impacts that addiction has on family members. One person has an addiction and the ripple effect means that it affects nine to a dozen others. The Minister of State and I will look at how we can put in place better supports for the families of people with addiction in the coming weeks.

There is another element of stigma that I heard about at the meeting last night and at a number of recent meetings. We are trying to open a supervised injection facility in the centre of Dublin because there is so much evidence that it works but, sadly, some politicians from across the political spectrum are objecting to that and engaging in NIMBYism. This process was started by the then Minister of State with responsibility for the national drugs strategy, Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, and has been championed by the Minister of State, but, sadly, others are delivering literature, tweeting and adding to the stigma for the sake of trying to get a few cheap votes locally. I echo the calls that have been made to end the stigma and shame on those politicians who are involved in NIMBYism. They should come along to the briefings at this committee, meet people with addiction and their families, know what they are talking about and should know better.

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