Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses again. This has been a long session and listening to the witnesses has been enlightening. I have picked up a lot from their contributions and I thank them for that.

To follow on from Deputy Ward, some of the communities that we represent have been destroyed by drugs. There is a fear factor among those communities around decriminalisation or legalisation. The citizens' assembly made 36 recommendations. As Deputy Ward said, we do not want the Government to be able to use the report of the citizens' assembly as a way of not investing in communities that have been badly affected. We have advocated considerable investment in education, addiction and recovery services, community drug and alcohol task forces and community policing with community gardaí on the ground. We are also looking for increased investment in youth clubs, arts and sports, and measures to tackle poverty in these areas. We want to tackle the trauma caused by decades of underinvestment. All of the witnesses have touched on the stigma involved. These communities have fallen under a stigma because of the drugs trade.

We know that the war on drugs has been a complete failure. In fact, in some ways the war on drugs has made matters worse. I heard Professor Stevens say to Deputy Ward that one thing is not conditional on another. However, if you were in these communities and looking at a major change, you would be saying that surely the Government must invest. It is not a case of one or the other. It is that if the Government is going to go down this road, those things have to go together. What are the witnesses' thoughts on that?