Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

However, all these years later, none of us can be happy with the situation. I speak in broad support of the aims of the motion which are about acknowledging the problem, examining comprehensive ways to address it and being open-minded about it. I regret that Deputy Keating introduced a tone which was playing politics with the issue. I acknowledge what was stated by Deputy Stanton about examining jurisdictions in other parts of Europe where drugs have been decriminalised and how it has played out. I understand it is patchy in some cases but we should examine it and be open-minded. The suggestion of a committee is good because there is interest in the issue, and if people have a strong and continuing interest, we could have an opportunity to capture it and do something more positive.

We have enormous problems with addiction in our society and these problems have become substantially worse with the economic crisis. Even before the crisis hit we had 4,000 drug related deaths in the ten years prior to 2008. By 2008 we were averaging 5,000 deaths a year. These are astonishing figures and, of these, three quarters were young men. Figures from 2006 also show an estimated 17.6 opiate users per 1,000 people in the Dublin region, which is quite a shocking statistic.

We know addiction does not just stop at that and leads to other issues such as serious health complications - we often find cohorts of people homeless or with mental health issues - and issues of domestic violence. These also require State responses. We must get to the origin of the problem. Very reputable organisations such as Pieta House and Alcohol Action Ireland have highlighted the contributory role drug and alcohol abuse plays in many cases of suicide and mental health problems. This will not come as a surprise to most of us. Barnardos, another reputable organisation, speaks about the impact of parents' addiction on their children, and the same is true vice versa. We must examine smarter ways to deal with addiction and its causes.

We must examine how funding can be better targeted to achieve a better outcome. We all know money is limited, but some of the community responses have been shown to be the best type of response. We are poorly resourced in north Kildare but Abbey Regional Addiction Services, ARAS, is a community addiction service in south Kildare. I invited representatives from the group to speak to Deputies a number of months ago. They are people in recovery who volunteer to assist others in getting to where they are themselves. They mapped the services and showed us the map, and there was practically nothing in north Kildare. People on methadone programmes travel from Athy every day. We must recognise this as an impediment to dealing with the problem, and services must be much more community-based if we are to get to grips with it.

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