Mr. Martin Rogan:

I think they have been exacerbated. It is having an amplifying effect so that people are inclined to use and overuse their traditional coping mechanism. Every one of us has experience of this over recent months, of being overwhelmed and having to take time or space out to try to reset our normal levels of equilibrium. Unfortunately, many people are inclined to use prescription drugs, street drugs or alcohol to excess to achieve that. We do not yet have a full measure on that but the CSO data on alcohol, which is probably best tracked, and some of the recent drug seizures, something the Garda has been very successful in, suggest an escalating demand on that too.