Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Thank you so much Cathaoirleach and members. I am delighted to be here. I am joined from the Department by Mr. David Leach, assistant secretary, Mr. Jim Walsh, principal officer, and Ms Deirdre King-De Montano, assistant principal. As the Cathaoirleach mentioned, I am also joined by Professor Bobby Smyth, Dr. Sarah Morton and Ms Mellany McLoone. It is great to be here today to talk to members about the national drugs strategy.

Dr. Morton is the chair of the national drugs strategy steering group and is overseeing the drafting of the next national drugs strategy. The role of the steering committee is to provide oversight, guidance and expert advice on the content of the strategy. Mr. Joe O'Neill is also here today. He is chairman of the Western Region Drug and Alcohol Task Force and is a member of the national drugs strategy reference group. Membership of the reference group includes people with lived or living experience of drug use, taking account of the voices of Travellers, migrants and individuals who have had experience of the criminal justice system.

I wish to reaffirm the programme for Government commitment to a health-led approach to drug use. The national drugs strategy will focus on this and deepen the health-led approach by addressing the enormous changes we have seen in drug use since the last strategy was drafted in 2016. I am very mindful, as are my colleagues in the Department, of the fact that we are looking at ten years since the previous drugs strategy. In the intervening period, there have been a lot of changes and challenges. It is important to draw on the findings of the independent evaluation of the previous strategy in order to support the design of an integrated, equitable and evidence-based response to drug use that is responsive to emerging trends and aligned with national priorities and international best practice. Our consultations with stakeholders included individuals and families with lived and living experience of drug use which will contribute to the development of the successor strategy. I have shared a report on these consultations with the committee.

As members will be aware, since the emergence of the drug problem in the 1980s, Irish society has been transformed.

This has shaped patterns of drug use. We have seen huge growth, increased urbanisation and technological advances, which have contributed to changing social dynamics and drug trends. Where drug use in the 1980s was often associated with heroin in specific urban communities, today’s landscape is far more complicated. In the decade since the previous strategy was drafted, drug use in Ireland has evolved significantly. Over 13,000 cases of problem drug use received treatment in 2024, an increase of 50% since 2017. The increased demand for treatment is from all regions, all age groups, men and women, people with and without children, those in employment as well as the unemployed. There has been an increase in the availability of new psychoactive substances and designer stimulants, which presents new challenges for public health. The consumption of drugs has changed, with cocaine now the most treated drug. The settings in which drugs are used have changed and there is higher rate of polydrug use. There is greater recognition of the impact of drug use on mental health, especially among our young people and the need for community-based, health-led approaches. I believe that is why the Citizens' Assembly on Drug Use stated, "The stark reality of drug use in Ireland today means that there is no time to be lost" and recommended that the new national drugs strategy be drafted and agreed urgently. The recommendations set a target date of 2024 for its completion.

I am committed to a collaborative approach. This was reflected in the debate on the Private Members' motion last week. As I said in that debate, this is not about politics; it is about us all finding the best way to meet this enormous challenge. This committee has heard powerful evidence of the experience of those faced with addiction and that of their families. I am determined that this lived experience will inform the next national drugs strategy. Despite the urgency of the task, as Minister of State, I want to ensure that we move forward in co-operation as much as possible. It is very important to me as Minister of State to work with the committee together in co-operation. That is my aim going forward. Therefore, when the draft strategy comes before me at the end of the year, I will send it to this committee for consultation. I hope the committee will include it in its deliberations and once its report is complete, I will review any relevant recommendations. I aim to have a final version completed and published before the summer recess. We will not agree on everything but I hope we will work together where we can.

I want the new strategy to build on policies introduced in recent years. We saw the opening of Ireland’s first supervised injection facility at the end of last year. I am happy to report that the facility has assisted over 1,000 individual clients who have made over 7,500 visits. There were over 120 successful interventions to prevent a fatal overdose. The review of the 18-month pilot will inform decisions on whether to continue with this facility and open new ones in other areas, including the possibility of mobile facilities. We have been talking about this within the Department. A core component of the health-led approach is the diversion of people in possession of drugs from the criminal justice system to health services. I am committed to commencing the health diversion scheme that the Minister for justice and I have agreed will be implemented on an administrative basis. An Garda Síochána and the Director of Public Prosecutions are finalising the operational details. Once we have signed off on this, we will commence it at a national level. This is imminent; we are nearly there to sign off on this. We believe it will be really soon. The Health Research Board will monitor its implementation and a full evaluation will be completed after the first 12 months. We will evaluate it once it gets up and running. We will know more after the first 12 months. On top of other alternatives to coercive sanctions introduced in recent years, I hope this scheme will build the confidence of the criminal justice system and of society more widely in the value of a health-led approach.

In 2024, total drug-related public expenditure was €338 million. Of this, €174 million related to health expenditure. In the subsequent budgets in 2025 and 2026, the Department of Health allocated a further €7 million in recurring funding to enhance the provision of drug services with €1.9 million ring-fenced for community-based services. The Department’s emphasis is on developing services for under-served populations, problem alcohol use, dual diagnosis, family support and people in recovery. In all, there are over 610 drug and family support services provided by the HSE around the country. That is important. It is an issue we worked on with the Department; I am very mindful that while we concentrate on cities, we also concentrate on rural areas where we have all the services. Section 39 organisations also provide those services, with 280 projects supported by the task forces, which are at the front line in responding to the impact of drugs on local communities. Additional funding has included resources for the DRIVE initiative on drug-related violence and intimidation. In addition, I am developing a new programme with three-year funding to support community resilience against drugs that task forces and other community organisations can apply for. I expect to announce details of this programme shortly. We are working on this at the moment within the Department. I hope to announce it as soon as possible.

The issue of problem drug use unites us all. As members are aware, there is not a village or town throughout the country that has not been impacted by drug use. Addiction does not discriminate on class, geography, colour or creed. Ireland is a very different country to when we first faced this issue nearly 50 years ago. The types of problem we face are in some ways very different, but the scale is no less. Working together, I hope we can face them. That is what the Department, the HSE, all of us today and colleagues from different areas to do. We are talking about people's lives. We want to make sure we all have an input into our new drugs strategy.