Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this motion. I congratulate Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan on drafting the motion and apologise to her for encroaching on her time. She was in full flow and could have continued. I also welcome the new Minister of State with responsibility for primary care, Deputy Alex White. I hope he has a successful tenure, at least more successful than his predecessor.

This Private Members' motion is very important because addiction is a serious problem throughout the country. I received a call from my local radio station today. It related to just one phrase in the motion which refers to opening a debate on the decriminalisation of drugs. I will address that issue later in my contribution. It is a pity that this single phrase has been picked on by some Members on the Government side as the important message of the motion, because the motion covers all aspects of addiction.

The biggest addiction problem in this country is addiction to alcohol and alcohol abuse. It is the number one issue in Ireland today. In 2010 a HSE report estimated the cost of alcohol related problems at €3.2 billion annually. That is a huge figure when one considers the costs of the HSE and the overruns it is dealing with at present. Addiction, particularly alcohol addiction, is the cause of that financial cost, as well as further problems. Alcohol related crime is estimated to cost approximately €1.2 billion every year. We really have a major problem with alcohol and alcohol addiction in this country and it must be dealt with as comprehensively as possible.

In the case of alcohol related crime, 97% of public order offences are due to alcohol, according to the Garda PULSE system, while in over 50% of murders committed in this country the perpetrators had consumed alcohol. For 76% of rape defendants, alcohol was a factor in the rape. One can see it is a huge problem. Financially, we must deal with it, quite apart from the cost to society and the cost to families and young people who are damaged and abused as a result of alcohol abuse. One of the biggest problems with alcohol is its availability. It is in every corner shop and supermarket. We just cannot get away from it. When I was young, parents complained about the fact that the sweets were always on display beside the checkout in the shops. Now, it is the off-licence that is on display beside the checkout, to encourage people to buy drink when they are paying for their groceries. We must deal with that. The previous Minister was putting together proposals and hoping to put measures in place to deal with it, so I hope this Minister will continue that work.

We talk every day about the reductions in the health budget and the cutbacks that are due to take place in forthcoming years. Consider that in the context of the cost of alcohol abuse at over €3.2 billion each year. If we could deal with that and make real inroads, we could ease a great deal of the pressure on our health budget and have a more reasoned debate about it.

Drug abuse is a problem not only in the inner cities but throughout the country, including in rural areas. There is a complete lack of support and services for addicts in rural areas. There is a heroin problem in a number of areas in County Donegal, with many addicts in the local communities. Indeed, over the last year or so there were a number of deaths related to drug use in rural areas. Addicts in rural areas who wish to get on a methadone programme or who wish to deal with their addiction must wait six weeks for an appointment for a methadone programme. They must then travel to Dublin to get approval to attend the methadone clinics. That is unacceptable when drugs are available throughout the country. Young people's lives are being destroyed from drug abuse and the lack of support services for them.

This motion proposes a number of actions to be carried out by the Government. It calls for the assets seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, to be made available to fund drugs projects. That is vital. They should also be used to offset the cuts that are being imposed. It calls for no further cuts to community employment, CE, schemes that are dealing with addiction services. That must be implemented. In the last number of weeks cuts have been made to child and adolescent mental health services in the HSE west area. This means that young vulnerable people and the many families suffering as a result of alcohol abuse and addiction problems cannot avail of the services they require to help them to cope with their daily lives. Those services must be reinstated to ensure young people will be able to cope and talk to somebody who could help them to live through their difficult situation.

It is vital that we have a debate on the decriminalisation of drugs in this country. In 2002 Portugal decriminalised the possession of drugs for personal use. Reports I have read show that this has reduced addiction and crime related to drug use. We must have that debate and it must be done without hysterical reactions. We must look at these models to see if there is anything we can transpose to Ireland which could help to reduce addiction. Anything that would lower the level of addiction and the problems people have with it must be welcomed.

The motion is comprehensive and I congratulate Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan on producing it. It is vital that we maintain services as well as putting them in place. If we could move away from a system of year to year budgets and think in the long term, we could make a real impact, reduce our costs and reduce the level of the problem in our society.

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