Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)

——here. The reality is that there is a serious problem, but the Minister of State does not admit that. He should not try to quote international figures to defend it. That is not good enough. According to his own figures on the waiting lists for methadone treatment from May 2006, some people are waiting 18 months to start a maintenance programme — not for treatment for drugs, just a maintenance programme to keep the habit at bay. The average wait is six months to a year, and yet the Minister of State can tell the House about the great study that was done which shows that treatment works. If it works why do we not increase its availability? He mentioned access to methadone and clinics all around the country. There are 76 methadone treatment centres in Dublin and 16 outside the capital. It is not very easy to get it, and yet the Minister of State talks about it as if everything were grand and freely available in every town. That is not the case, because not enough is being done to encourage pharmacists and doctors to participate and implement the programme. It is a failure and the Minister of State should admit this.

I will not touch on the mental health area because Deputy Neville will speak on that. I have two quick points to make. Every time there is a drugs seizure, and someone is shot or affected by drugs, we are told the person concerned is known to the Garda. People who are dealing in drugs all around the country are known to the Garda. They are known to the Minister of State and everyone else in the various areas and yet nothing can be done. Surely to God the law can be changed or something can be done to get such people off the streets, since they are known by the Garda to be drug dealers.

See this speech in context