Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 10 October 2024
Committee on Drugs Use
A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed)
9:30 am
Ms Nina Brennan:
What the Deputy outlined is complex and challenging, and while the Dublin drug treatment court is very small, it gives an idea of what could be done. It is a wraparound service that brings everybody together. From what I have seen, it is that holistic approach, but our organisation is small relative to the scale of it. I do not want to say it is a panacea for everything, but the system needs to be reviewed. As Ms Wright said, it was most recently looked at properly in 2013. We are now in very different circumstances, both in society and economically in this country, as we sit here near the end of 2024. Apart from the day-to-day work and maintaining the service, our efforts will be on shaping and inputting to that review but, again, we will be only one actor within that review, which will be conducted by the Department of Justice.