Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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We should have them because it gives a slanted impression. For instance, I do not see the number of people over 75 coming into the country as being in any way of the level referred to here but, by comparison, I see a huge number of young people coming in. I would say the ratio is very different from what these figures suggest. As well as that, I heard on a radio programme this morning confirmation of inward growth in the number of young people in the lower income bracket and that they do not put a huge strain on our economy. They will obviously graduate and qualify for higher incomes as time goes on. I would like that looked at in a way that might be of more benefit when calculating what we are at. I have been listening to it for a long number of years. The year 2038 was to be the crash-out year where everything was to go awry, but the balancing factor is the number of young people. There are the indigenous young people who do not emigrate automatically, who are staying here and who can travel if they want to, which they do for experience, and so on, in comparison with the past when all those young people booked their flight to London, New York, Sydney or wherever else they wanted to go because they had no option. They were economic emigrants. We were economic emigrants in this country for at least 150 years. That is coming to a halt, and rightly so, but we need to acknowledge it in the calculations we are making. I certainly believe it should be included.

Regarding addiction services, I believe in a combination of two ways and means. We have to detox and we have to have drug treatment centres. We have to have a means of the urgent cases being able to get to a hospital treatment area or a treatment area that will give them the equivalent of hospital attention in the shortest possible time. I mentioned previously at these meetings the extent to which people requiring treatment for drug and alcohol addiction are appearing at the accident and emergency departments in our hospitals. It is widespread. It is not only one or two hospitals; it is all over the place. As to the effect that has, it is disruptive to the staff and it is intimidating to some of those who are there for a different purpose, such as various health reasons. I suggest there be a dedicated place for drug and alcohol treatment adjacent to or nearby accident and emergency departments without infiltrating the accident and emergency departments and making them unworkable. Some of what I have seen in accident and emergency departments over the past 12 months is undesirable. The amount of abuse being hurled at staff, foul language and threats to staff at all levels is appalling. It is not possible to run a service in that kind of atmosphere and we should not try to do it. I would ask that there be some arrangement made for that separation, not that there would be a diminution in attention but that at least would have the two types of patient in a place that is more geared to their requirements. It is urgent.

I visited a couple of the drug treatment centres in recent times and they are doing a good job. I agree with the concept of medication and restriction of the flow and access to drugs. There is a strong lobby within the services that says we must concentrate on the medication and forget about the rest of it. That is not dealing with the situation. As a former member of a drugs task force, we found out that methadone is instrumental in helping people who have a drug addiction, but it should not be as a means of supplementing the illegal drugs industry which is fairly rampant in this country. Anybody will tell you that in all schools - second-level schools and, in many cases, primary level - in any area in the country, drugs are being foisted on students and pupils in a way that makes them impossible to avoid. Students will tell you they can have a ready supply any time they want. There should be no correlation between the illicit drug trade and methadone because methadone is deemed to wean the patient or addict off the drugs - detox for a start and then onward treatment in a way that leaves the patient less dependent on drugs. I have in recent times met many, mostly guys, who are willing to help themselves when they get the opportunity, but if we lead them into a situation whereby we put them on a programme now and it will be forever, that is not the way to deal with the serious and worsening drugs problem we have in this country. Eventually, we will be in a situation whereby a very large segment of the population will be unemployable or will be a burden on their families and themselves and the State forever. It is not necessary because there is the science and the technology and the medication there now to treat their particular addiction, whatever it is.

I have spoken about this many times before, and some people in the House do not agree with me on the matter, but there is a need to come down on one side or other. I live in a part of the country, as do many of our members at present, where drug barons are kingpins and they supply on demand anything the addict or would-be addict wants. If they do not have an addict in mind, they will soon create them because they create the problem by feeding the population with an appetite for drugs. Some people will say that alcohol is bad. I agree, but at least we do not treat alcoholism by giving the alcoholic a bottle of whiskey today and two bottles in a week's time or whatever the case may be. That is not treatment and we know that. For those who say drug addiction is different, it is not, and we need to recognise that.

We need to give the drug treatment centres greater recognition for the work that they do. I have seen the sparseness of some of their centres, including one in my constituency. They need sufficient funding and facilities to deal with the problem as presented to them. There is no good in us saying here that we have the facilities. We do not have facilities that are sufficiently geared to deal with the magnitude of the growing problem. Can that be emphasised in a particular way and could there be some follow-up action to it that we can at least see for ourselves?