Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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It is probably unfair to ask the question. There was not a single word about addiction in the budget. There are citizens’ assembly recommendations and we are now trying to introduce a policy, having listened to those present and many other groups, but I do not believe there is the will in certain parts of the Government and the Department, to be realistic. We have been talking about a health-led approach for years. Last week, I encountered the tragic case of a young man of 28, Dean Seery, who died on the streets of Cork. He was sentenced to four months in prison, got out after two weeks and could not get into accommodation because of issues with his personal behaviour. He tried to get back into prison because he had nowhere to sleep but he was not let back in. He tried to get into Cork Simon Community but, because of his behavioural issues, he could not. I am not criticising Cork Simon Community as it does unbelievable work in Cork, but the problem in Cork is that we are so short of services, especially for complicated cases. Dean died in a lane in Cork city last Tuesday week.

We have one of the highest, if not the highest, death rates from drug overdoses in Europe. Dean was a young man of 28 years of age and had his whole life ahead of him. His family are just distraught, devastated. The witnesses touched earlier on what the issue is. Dean was failed when he was a child. When he got to 28, there were many failures. I am so angry with the Government regarding the funding it is making available to deliver on the citizens’ assembly recommendations and all the other services. Can you imagine trying to get back into prison only to find it will not let you in, meaning you will die a week later?

I thank our guests for being here and for the work they do. It is vital work and we just need more of it. We had representatives of the Prison Service in here a few weeks ago and they said it costs €90,000 per year to keep a person in prison. If we invested only a fraction of that, when people are young, into services such as those of our guests, it would be beneficial. Even if the humanity, people’s lives and the trauma are not taken into account and the matter is considered only from a financial point of view, it actually makes sense to invest early and often.