Ms Anna Quigley:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to be here because this is a crucial time for the drugs strategy.

CityWide is the representative body for the community sector in terms of the national drugs strategy. I suppose people will know that CityWide has warned for the last couple of years that the partnership approach in the drugs strategy has been in danger of collapse. As people will know, in 1996 the State finally acknowledged that it had not listened to the voices from the community at the time about the growing heroin problem and that led to a radical new approach in drugs policy. The approach has been re-affirmed by every single Government that we have had since because it works. It is built on community participation and on partnership inter-agency working. Crucially, it is built on local decision-making and the guys from Tallaght will be very strong about the importance of that. We know from experience that these things are crucial in order to have an effective response to drugs.

The current national drugs strategy Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery was launched in 2017. The strategy clearly recommits to this approach as follows: "It recognises the importance of supporting the participation of communities in key decision making structures", which is a crucial phrase, "so that their experience and knowledge informs the development of solutions to solve problems". We are really sorry to say that the words in the strategy have not been delivered on because the decision-making authority at national, regional and local levels has been taken away from the partnership structures whether that is the national committee, on which CityWide participates, or the task forces that Mr. Hamilton and Ms Hill will talk about. The decision-making power has reverted back to the Department of Health and the HSE. They make key decisions centrally and without consultation with communities.

The national oversight committee is the main national committee. Its terms of references makes it sound like a really powerful committee as it gives leadership, direction, prioritisation and allocates resources. We can say, having been representatives on that for the last three years, that we have not been involved in one significant decision in all that time.

As members will know, the drug and alcohol task forces have done amazing work over the years in responding to the needs that emerge in communities. However, their ability to carry out that role has been undermined by the recentralisation of the decision-making process. I am sure that people will be very familiar with the fact that there has been a failure to properly recognise and fund the community drugs projects, which are the absolute backbone of service delivery in this country. The members will hear more about this matter from the guys from Tallaght.

Why is this a significant time? Last week, the report of the mid-term review of the current drugs strategy was published and it has confirmed all of our worst fears. The report has a fundamental flaw in that it has failed to recognise the central role played by communities in the national drugs strategy, which puts it at odds with all of the overwhelming evidence. That evidence shows the crucial role played by communities and brings extensive knowledge to bear on all of the emerging issues, and communities have led the way on so many issues.

Unfortunately, the review has chosen to ignore experience. How can we learn from and build on the knowledge and experience of communities when we do not even name it? How can we develop effective services when we fail to recognise the unique role played by community drugs projects? They work across a whole range of actions and not just the addiction issues but a spectrum of issues, including housing, education, mental health, domestic violence and intimidation. The review did not recognise the centrality of that role.

With the mid-term review the Department has written the community sector out of the national drugs strategy. That has happened at a time when we know, across the country, that the number of areas experiencing a community drug problem has significantly increased. Now more than ever we need a community and State partnership.

Let me explain why the review is so significant. Next Friday, the national oversight committee will meet. At that meeting the Department intends to remove the community and voluntary networks that have played a representative role in the national drugs strategy. I wish to note that CityWide has done so for 25 years and many of the other networks have been around for many years.

The Department intends to remove us from our national representative role without a review, explanation or discussion. If this is allowed to go ahead next Friday then it will bring down the curtain on the inter-agency partnership approach that has been at the heart of the drugs strategy since 1996. That means we will be turning our back on communities like Tallaght and all of the communities around the country that so badly need to be heard. I call on the Government and all parliamentarians to make sure that this does not happen.

I thank the members for their time and look forward to questions. In particular, I look forward to hearing from Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Hill about the great work that their organisations do in Tallaght.

Ms Grace Hill:It is great to see so many people here and I thank Ms Quigley for setting us up really well.

I thank the Chairperson and members of the committee for the invitation to attend following our launch of our research on the topic of the landscape of substance misuse and its impact on the communities we serve, which is Tallaght and Whitechurch. In summary, the report provides an insight into the current picture of drug use in Tallaght and Whitechurch. We want to address the impact of crack cocaine in our areas and discuss what community projects are doing with limited resources to support these issues. We want to discuss why we now have a crisis in our communities and why we urgently need a Government response in terms of funding.

I am joined by Mr. Shane Hamilton who is the manager of Jobstown Assisting Drug Dependency, JADD. He is here to talk about the organisation's work to tackle crack cocaine use.

The report has confirmed that over the past ten years Tallaght has seen a significant growth in population, deprivation, substance misuse and drug-related crime. The area has a population of 100,000 and it is still expanding. The size of the area exceeds cities like Limerick and Galway.

Tallaght is also surrounded by areas such Citywest, Saggart, Rathcoole and Knocklyon and referrals often come from those areas too. The number of people accessing drug treatment in our area has doubled in the past ten years, with most people using two or more substances. While heroin was the most used drug in 2020 in our area, cocaine came in second with crack cocaine use proving the most problematic for individuals and families.

After consulting with our front-line services and community representatives, the task force named crack cocaine as its number one issue in 2021 and that is supported by feedback from the public consultation, with terminology such as “epidemic” and “tsunami” used to describe what was happening on the ground. What this looks like is open drug dealing happening all day long, drug-related intimidation and crime, and drug users presenting with complex needs. Mr. Hamilton will touch on more of that.

Already in 2021, more than 4,000 crack pipes have been distributed by our community harm reduction services. This figure exceeds the total number of pipes issued this year in the whole mid-west region, which includes Limerick city and beyond, according to Ana Liffey Drug Project. Interim funding for our task force is approximately €1.2 million, below the level of funding we were getting in 2010. Despite Government funding increasing by approximately 50% in the past decade and a health budget of €21 billion, we have not seen any increase at the front line. This is also the case for the other 13 drug and alcohol task forces in Dublin and Cork.

The Tallaght Drugs and Alcohol Task Force, while discussing our research findings, of which the committee may have seen the considerable media coverage, has been very open with its views concerning the proposed budget for the national drugs strategy next year and notes it lacks the urgency required to support front-line community drug services that are struggling now.

With respect to the crack cocaine issue, the budget of €500,000 for the entire country lacks any understanding of the scale of the problem on the ground and level of supports required to address it. We know that crack cocaine is an issue for other task force areas, but not every community is seeing the same concentration that we are, teamed with the level of poverty in Tallaght and the co-morbidity rates. We know that targeting of any available funds, albeit limited, is very important.

When we launched the research earlier this month, we made the case for an additional allocation of €1 million for a task force. Most pressing on our needs list was to address the crack cocaine issue and support struggling front-line community services. As a task force, our role is to empower community drug services to meet the needs of their communities and the same rationale applies to the crack cocaine issue.

In 2018, we set up two crack cocaine-specific programmes, in Jobstown and Killinarden. These programmes are effectively working with crack users around their many complex issues, albeit on a part-time and quite limited basis. Come 1 January, we will have no funds to sustain this crucial work on the current crisis and we urgently need support. We also know crack cocaine is only a symptom of years of neglect in terms of empowering drugs services and the community sector more broadly, as Ms Quigley spoke about.

With four weeks to the end of this year, it is vital that the allocation of funding announced, although limited, is targeted and allocated as a matter of urgency. We call on the Government to allocate this funding to Tallaght and other areas impacted by crack cocaine, as soon as possible. We welcome the fact that the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, has indicated that he will come to Tallaght before the end of the year and we look forward to discussing our report and the need for urgent funding with him.

Before handing over to Mr. Hamilton, I will give the committee a more practical view of the work being done here. Recovery is possible and recovery communities are active in our communities, which is great to see. I want to promote that positive news. In tandem with launching our report, we launched a series of videos on what recovery looks like, which are available on our website and YouTube channel. They have considerably helped people connect with the drug issue, teamed with the grim findings within our research and we welcome that move.

Last Thursday night, I accompanied community drug workers from the crack cocaine outreach service run by JADD out into the community on their assertive outreach run which supports the most vulnerable drug users across the Jobstown and west Tallaght area. From the experience, I can say many things with complete certainty, one of which is the supports being provided by community drug services in response to crack cocaine, through the community addiction response programme, CARP, the JADD Project and community drug work are extremely essential, front line and lifesaving. That might sound sensational, but they are. No other organisations are providing such rounded services in terms of nourishment from food, contact point, harm reduction in terms of clean works, sign posting and referrals. Community drug services are well placed and, in our view, best placed to do this work within the community where they are based, if funded to do so.