Mr. Andy O'Hara:

Ireland is embracing a major shift towards a health-led, human rights-based approach to drug use, reflected in the national drugs strategy, the Citizens' Assembly on Drug Use and the Oireachtas joint committee. A core principle of this new consensus is that policies and services be co-designed with the people they serve, yet meaningful engagement is impossible without independent support. Research shows people who use drugs often hesitate to voice concerns due to power imbalances in treatment. The Health Research Board highlights that stigma and discrimination block access to essential services, leading to poorer health outcomes and deeper inequalities. Without advocacy, individuals are left to face systemic barriers alone.

Ireland already recognises the importance of advocacy in other areas. The Mental Health Commission, for example, ensures advocacy is structurally independent of treatment providers so individuals can challenge decisions without fear of repercussions. People who use drugs deserve the same protection. Our front-line advocacy consistently reveals discrimination against people who use drugs across multiple systems: healthcare - stigma and refusal of appropriate care; housing - unfair evictions and denying applications based only on drugs use; Tusla - parents deemed unfit without proportional assessment, leading to family separation. These practices worsen exclusion, reinforce cycles of substance use and undermine recovery. This will continue as long as we stigmatise, criminalise and deny people their human rights.

The contrast in Ireland's investment in advocacy is stark. EPIC supports fewer than 6,000 young people in care with a national network of advocates, research and systemic influence. In comparison, there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of people who are drug dependent, yet advocacy infrastructure for this group is virtually non-existent. Uisce is the only independent national advocacy service for people who use drugs. Despite minimal resources, it achieves outsized impacts: 4,000-plus peer-led engagements and 188 outreach sessions annually; direct advocacy in complex cases involving healthcare, housing and child protection; harm-reduction leadership including naloxone training for over 1,000 people; authoring material on how to reduce drug-related deaths; campaigns and events such as international overdose awareness day, the "Support. Don't Punish." campaign and the close the gap conference; as well as ground-breaking research including an IHREC-funded agency access and solutions report and digital anti-stigma studies.

Independent peer networks with a national framework are critical to the change we are all trying to create. The State cannot simply hand-pick the individuals with lived experience who it finds palatable. This can undermine the principles of representation and independence. We must be accountable to and provide protection to a broader community which may be reluctant to criticise the system for fear of losing a place at the table.

It is therefore deeply concerning that Uisce, the national organisation named in the current NDS, has been excluded from the committee to oversee the new national drugs strategy. A national independent organisation like Uisce must be protected, mandated and funded to do this work. We are not a threat; we are the essential partner you have committed to working with. Investing in independent advocacy is not a cost; it is the foundation upon which a truly health-led, rights-based approach is built. It is the most effective way to stop the deaths, end the discrimination and finally honour the commitments we all have to save lives and build stronger communities. I thank members.