Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to share time with Deputies Pringle, Healy and Fleming, five minutes each. I am speaking as somebody who represents a constituency, parts of which have been devastated by drugs, starting with heroin, then cocaine, ecstasy, high strength cannabis, head shop products, which have been compounded by the misuse and abuse of alcohol in recent years, and now tablets. One of the problems for treatment and rehabilitation services has been keeping up with new drugs as they come on stream. Many of the services have dealt with heroin addiction, but have not taken into account other addictions. There is no doubt that tablets are a serious problem in the Dublin I know and elsewhere.

The term "mayhem" has been used by some community workers to describe the tablet issue in Dublin. There is mayhem for the addict and community. The same dealer who sold heroin and cocaine is selling tablets. People living in these communities see no difference between the dealing of tablets and heroin. Parts of the inner city were recently described as being like an open-air supermarket when it comes to drugs, with dealers feeding on the pain and needs of addicts. This Bill recognises the problem of tablets and the way in which gardaí have been unable to deal with this issue to date. Failure to introduce this Bill would be devastating for communities and would mean that ecstasy, head shop drugs and tablets which are known to be harmful - I have seen the harm caused to individuals, families and communities - would no longer be controlled.

Communities and the gardaí have constantly asked when this Bill will be introduced. The communities I represent and those working in them have been waiting for this Schedule. At many of the meetings I attend I am asked why the gardaí are not confiscating tablets. The reason is the legislation that is in place, therefore this Bill is to be welcomed. Communities are looking at people who are strung out on tablets and are waiting to buy tablets to bring them down off other drugs or use them instead of them. We now find that there are some convictions in train that may be affected which would see more dealers getting off. The havoc they cause still continues.

There is a wider debate, as seen in the report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. The so-called war on drugs has involved more than 50 years of enforcement-led international drugs control system and trillions of dollars, but has not shown substantial effects, except for organised crime which gets the benefit. The Alternative World Drug Report advocates other options, such as health-led approaches, legal state regulation and control.

I refer to an Irish report. Research was done between 2008 and 2010, but publication was delayed for a few years. The lead author was Dr. Johnny Connolly, a criminologist who painted a grim picture that, despite progress in areas like treatment services, violence and gangland crime still exist. He found that drug use has been largely unaffected by law enforcement, but acknowledges that Garda activities have led to a disruption of the market and local Garda activity has had a positive impact on communities. Police visibility increases resident confidence and police presence might move trade on for a while, but has an effect. That is why the community gardaí, whose resources were reduced recently, need to be fully resourced to tackle these issues.

We are not near the other approach, but regardless of how one feels, discussion, debate and research would be helpful. In the meantime, we have serious problems and the Schedule is vital. This issue indicates the need to have a Minister with responsibility solely for drug and alcohol policy and addiction. It is also needed because of the current debate on harm reduction measures which is gaining momentum. There is a place for harm reduction measures, but there are concerns, especially about the overuse and long-term use of methadone. The optimum goal has to be recovery for those in addiction.

Gangland crime was the subject of a committee on justice, equality, defence and women's rights recently during which people from the north inner city made presentations. They painted a very dark picture of how individuals are being targeted for debt. When an addict dies, the debt does not die with him or her; families are under pressure to pay. Young mothers, in particular, are being targeted. I will quote from a report in which a user said, "One of the people I get stuff (heroin) off like sometimes he would send his son out and his son is in my young fella's class, to hand you it and you hand him the money and he hands you the gear. He is only 12."

New tablets are appearing all the time, such as zimovane and zopiclone. How will they be included in further legislation? There is no doubt that as one tablet is made illegal another will take its place. The Bill needs to address that. We do not often get a chance to discuss drugs in the House, and it is important that we are now having this debate. We need to support the drug-free CE schemes and accommodation, the local projects which are working directly with those in addiction and those in homeless services who have an addiction issue and who, when motivated, can be linked into services.

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