Mr. Shane Hamilton:

On the impact of Covid on front-line service, as Ms Hill alluded to, we all remember the Taoiseach's speech on 16 March 2020. When the country closed down, drug services did not. They stayed open, have continued open and are often the only point of contact for vulnerable and marginalised individuals in the community. Luckily, we have great relationships with statutory bodies and local stakeholders such as Tusla, as well as charity organisations like Barnardos and others. We could be that point of contact with vulnerable people when other services were unable to work in the community face-to-face. They had to work remotely and were unable to get into the community. We have heard this again and again.

Out of my anxieties coming to such a forum as this, I looked up previous presentations to the Oireachtas and saw that Covid has been at the forefront for this committee and it has talked about it consistently. We have to acknowledge the individuals we often work with in drug services were already at the end of their tether and the bottom of the net when it came to accessing appropriate supports and services. They were marginalised, disadvantaged and on the fringes of an already challenging community to live within at times. Covid added enormous pressure on top of that in terms of food poverty and trying to manage utilities, keep the home warm and presses full of food. Drug services had to step in and provide these services. Going back to Ms Quigley's point earlier, this role goes unseen. This is the role of front-line community projects and we will not see the roles they fulfil until they stop.

On the citizens' assembly, I echo Ms Hill's point. We have to look forward towards the strategic objectives the Department wants to achieve with the drugs strategy. What specific roles will we provide within that and what will we see in five years' time as success? It needs to modernise, be more nuanced and to reflect what communities deal with.