Ms Cindy Barry:

I echo what people have said about the importance of early intervention. In our service we work with over 18s, but I am aware with my clients that there are a number of children under 18 for whom there are no specific services. I know there are great parenting programmes out there, but I mean addiction and trauma informed. In my area in counties Monaghan and Cavan there is MaCYSS, which works with kids from 11 up. A lot of children under that age bracket are being affected by addiction in the home, however, and there are little or no services available for those children. I wanted to highlight that as something that needs to be looked at and taken into account.