Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Quigley, Mr. Hamilton and Ms Hill for their insightful testimony. The report form Tallaght's drugs task force was an alert, even though the witnesses have seen on the ground that this is an ongoing and evolving situation. It was an alert to wider society on what should be done. I am slightly sceptical that society and the Government in situcan act on this situation.

In the past 25 years, the situation has come a long way. The drug industry has evolved but have society and Government evolved in how to tackle this situation? I would argue that they have not and have failed very visibly. I have said this many times: we have to take a different approach to drug use in society. The present policy does not work and is counterproductive. We have to look at something different. It is not easy. It can be very ugly, but we have to do it. Other jurisdictions have shown that with a different approach there are better outcomes for everybody. It is worrying, as Ms Quigley said. The community approach was the cutting edge in the 1980s and 1990s in the approach to drug use in working class communities that were literally obliterated and will always be the cutting edge in tackling drug use in communities.

There was a web seminar two weeks ago. The figures CityWide released last week were literally striking. Since 1996, there has been a 225% rise in drug deaths in Ireland and a 500% rise in drug prosecutions. What does that say? It says a lot in that the present policy does not work, and we have to look at something very different. In the here and now in what is happening in the Tallaght area, obviously there is an issue with resources. Fintan O'Toole wrote a really good article in The Irish Timeson Saturday. He said that if we look at what was given between 2010 to 2021, there has actually been a reduction in resources to drug task forces. What does that say about society? If this is left unchecked, although, hopefully it will be addressed with more resources and other societal approaches, and we have seen what happens if things are left unchecked, what will the consequences be in years to come?