Dr. Sharon Lambert:

The Deputy raised a similar point to that raised by Deputy Daly on the Garda presence. I understand that a perception of safety sometimes does matter to people and that is useful if we are also tackling the problem at the same time. If the Deputy said there is an issue with challenging behaviour in a certain town at nighttime, and it was decided to give €5 million to policing but €5 million is not given to mental health and addiction in schools, I would say that €5 million is wasted because it has created a perception of safety but not a reality of safety, and it has pushed costs down further. An important point is the impact on policing. If we do not have treatment beds available for people who are experiencing addiction and we do not have mental health supports for those involved in distressing incidents, what ends up happening is that the emergency services - An Garda Síochána, the ambulance services and the fire services - are the ones responding to those crises when they are not the services for that. The appropriate services are the addiction services and mental health services. It is not good for An Garda Síochána members to be dealing with social problems that are beyond their remit and training.