Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Joint Committee On Health
Impact of Covid-19 on Addiction Services: Discussion
Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I thank Mr. Greaves for that. We have been calling for community policing. The community gardaí in my area are really good; there are just not enough of them. When they are out on the beat they engage and have conversations with young people but they cannot be everywhere at the same time and there are just not enough of them. The gardaí themselves are feeling that frustration.
Residential services were mentioned. One of the things is the continuum of care. You know yourself: if there are gaps in services, people will fall through those gaps. Cuan Dara is a primary methadone detox service down the road from me, in Dublin 10. People were moving from Cuan Dara into the Keltoi unit in St. Mary's, in the Phoenix Park. Keltoi closed during the Covid pandemic and has not reopened. There is no timeframe for it to be reopened. Have the witnesses seen that or seen a lack of rehabilitation services as a barrier for people from exiting addiction?