Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I completely agree with Ms Quigley. In my area some of the gangs target children who are under the age of criminal responsibility. People do not realise that we are talking about kids as young as nine, ten or 11 getting dragged into this kind of thing.

I have a few questions and I will probably come back for a second round to talk to Ms Quigley about the drugs citizens' assembly. I completely agree with Senator Kyne, and Deputies Gould and Shortall that the changes suggested in the review are deeply concerning. I would go further and say that in my constituency on the north side of Dublin, we have seen an active and co-ordinated attempt by the Department to remove community voices from some of the strategies. I am deeply concerned about it. I have been in contact with some of those groups. If we cannot reverse it by Friday, we should certainly ask for a pause on any changes until the Minister of State can appear before the committee to explain why those changes are being made.

I am delighted to hear Ms Quigley talk about the SAOL Project which does incredible work. This brings up something else contained in the report, that is, the complex resources and supports people need when they are in this situation. Those involved in the SAOL Project frequently tell me that particularly for women the issues of tenancy support and childcare are core to their recovery. What kind of supports should be put in that adjacent category of incredibly important but not necessarily always seen as central to addiction support? If the community service-provision voice is removed from some of that decision-making, how difficult will it be to communicate between different services? If someone with addiction issues is being given tenancy support, how difficult will it be if that becomes a very centralised process?