Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is an important issue. Regarding training, gardaí get good training down in Templemore. As with teachers, we cannot expect gardaí to solve every societal problem. As to how this scheme will operate, the proposal is that it will try to divert people with addiction issues away from the criminal justice system and towards the health system. The Deputy may disagree with me, but given the level of training required for that, there needs to be aligned co-operation between the Garda, the drug treatment programmes, counsellors and the HSE. I was recently in Limerick. There is a very good proposal, called the community access support team, or CAST, between the Garda in Limerick and the HSE. If a person is identified as being in trouble or having emotional issues, which leads to the Garda being called, the intervention is through the Garda and the HSE. There is no great desire among gardaí in this country to keep bringing people before the courts. They want to ensure people can have their needs addressed.