Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 2 October 2025
Committee on Drugs Use
Community Supports: Discussion
2:00 am
Ms Cheryl Kelly:
No, in my experience of working in Donore, we have not had an issue with that. I want to comment on the Deputy's question about supporting people who might not have family supports in the country and what we can do. We will have to follow Sláintecare's plan and make sure that there are substantial and decent supports in the community for people who might have language barriers and drug addiction. It is another minority that do not have anybody to fall back on and they may not have the supports that an Irish person may have. They might not have parents, sisters, siblings, aunts, uncles and whoever it may be to support them in their journey of recovery. If you come to Ireland on your own and do not have that, who will you lean on? It is going to have to be the community. It is unfortunate that the majority of communities that have high drug use do not have community supports. We have absolutely nothing in Donore. Like Mr. Connolly said, we have no community centre or groups. There is very little in and around the area. The population in the area is going to increase within the next two years and there is very little in the area.
No comments