Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank everyone for being here. Apologies for my late arrival. I was in the Seanad. I wish I could have been here earlier. I thank the witnesses for their opening statements and all the work that they and the organisations they represent do. I heard some of the witnesses' earlier contributions. I was listening before I went to the Seanad. The witnesses were talking about stigma. It certainly resonates. I come from a perspective that if we want to change stigma, we need to change the way that we as a society think about addiction. We need to accept that addiction is just a symptom of trauma, pain and disadvantage. I guess as a culture and a race that we have generations of that trauma, from the Famine to economic depression, to social repression, the Troubles, the crash and Covid. That trauma is part of us as a race. Not all of us can cope as well with that all the time. As we get older, coping and recovery are so much more challenging.

When I think about it, I wonder how we start to address that pain and trauma and provide support to those individuals who need it before that problem manifests as addiction. How early does the intervention need to be made? I think Mr. Mullins, or perhaps the Prison Service, spoke to us about how 70% of those in custody finish school before 14 years of age. That means that before 14 years of age, they have disengaged from society. Society has allowed them to fall by the wayside. Some 80% of those in custody have an addiction. How early does society need to make the intervention? We need to identify that, pinpoint it and call it out. If, as a State, we start to do that, that will start to address the stigma and change society's view of what addiction is. That is one question.

The second question is on regulation of drugs. Ms Kearney has clearly articulated how it works from an alcohol perspective. In practice, how would regulation of drugs work here? I think we have all bought into decriminalisation and a health-led approach. I do not think that is a debatable issue anymore. How would regulation of drugs work in practice? I have four minutes and would love to hear from all the witnesses.