Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise this issue today not to score points but to highlight the scale and nature of the problem and possible ways to address it. The number of drug-related deaths is unacceptable. I have a personal interest in this issue in that I know of many people whose deaths were drug-related. In one week alone I attended church services for three people who died directly from drugs. I know that other people in that area had also died that week. That is the scale of the problem. Many of these deaths are probably not be recorded in the national drug-related deaths index. As such, there is also a problem in regard to how we identify drug-related deaths.

If we are to tackle this issue we first need to know the scale of the problem. We need to start the conversation in this House about the scale of the problem and how collectively we can address it. Many communities feel disempowered. They are certainly dissatisfied that the Government in its wisdom took the decision to do away with the portfolio of the Minister with responsibility for drugs and instead included it within the remit of the Department of Health. That is not a criticism of the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar. As I said earlier, address of alcohol-related issues now comes within the remit of the task forces. Earlier in the week I attended a meeting at which the issue of resources for alcohol-related issues was raised. I refer again to CAB as a potential cash-cow in this regard. We know that a huge envelope of money is being spent on drugs.

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That is one source of funding that needs to be directly put back into communities. If there is no funding available, there is certainly a significant amount of money going around from the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB. This needs to be spent back in communities.

Will the Minister accept this is the start of a conversation? Will he accept just five minutes to discuss this issue is not suitable and that we should have a debate in this House on the drugs issue and associated deaths? We owe it to all those who have died from drugs, many of them personal friends, and ensure another generation will not go down the same road. The figures are going up rather than down, however, which is a concern for all of us. The scale of the problem is getting worse.

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