Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach. My question is brief. I thank Ms Dunne for emphasising the refuge aspect. I am very aware of refuges turning women away if there is an intimation of substance use, especially if the women have been referred by a local drugs service. This referral comes with assumptions. Turning the woman away is removing her capacity to ask for help even at local level if it is the local service that makes the referral. I thank the witnesses for covering this so well.

My question is for EPIC. Mr. Stanley said something interesting, namely, that drug use or addiction – I do not know which term he used but I am going to refer to addiction – was a societal issue, not a consequence of being in care. I want to hone in on this. Could Mr. Stanley tease it out a little more? When we think about homelessness or imprisonment, we note that addiction can be compounded by circumstances. Obviously, drug use is societal but there are certain types of substance use, such as self-regulation and self-medication, that are in response to an environment that is not okay. Taking environmental factors into account, could Mr. Stanley speak to that point? I imagine he was not saying care as a whole did not have an impact on substance misuse. Obviously, all the environmental factors such as the type of care, how it is provided and how trauma-informed it is could have an impact on a person’s engagement with a substance.