Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for being here to discuss this Bill. I also welcome the Bill. My story is a bit different. In contrast to Deputies Curran and Boyd Barrett, I am from the west of the country. We cannot give up. We must have a very positive and collective approach because we must work together. We know how bad the situation is. We see it every day on the television, hear about it on the radio and see it on our streets. I come from a wee village called Portumna in east Galway. It is on all the streets throughout east Galway. Parents are talking about it. As Deputy Brassil said, Friday night involves a fix of a few tablets and a few beers. Unfortunately, that is where it is at. It is unfortunate that society has reached this point but we must reel it back in and see how we can move forward.

I think the approach is simple. As party spokesperson on children and youth affairs, I believe we must start with education. Regrettably, we must go back to education in national schools because we must ensure children are educated by the time they enter secondary school. The reason for this is because they are exposed to some 16 and 17-year-olds who are already hardened to drug use. All of a sudden, new prey is entering first year. They are seen as easy targets and become their runners. They are involved in a circle before they even get to third level. I thought that my young children would never be exposed to this and was praying that they would not be exposed to it until they reached third level but I must be realistic in this day and age because it is coming to them quicker and quicker every time.

It is back to education. We need to support our teachers. This is where the guidance counsellor role will have to kick in. I will tell a little story I came across once. A little child said in company one evening that a classmate had brought Tic Tacs to school. They had brought them in to dispense them to play at being drug dealers. They were doing that in sixth class with Tic Tacs and they role played correctly because they were seeing it at home. It is a case of monkey see, monkey do. We have to protect the children and we need to educate them that what they are doing with the Tic Tacs is not acceptable. They obviously see it at another level, probably at home. We need to support and educate the teachers. We need to educate kids in the classroom, who might not be exposed to it, about the difference between right and wrong. We need to support guidance counsellors and get that service back in again. Guidance counsellors are required because they are the helping hand needed in school if a child is having a hard time or under peer pressure. They can take time out and talk to them and understand what is going on.

Family resource centres in the country play a huge role because they provide support to the mother, father, aunt or uncle who wants to talk to somebody about it or who is looking for direction and support. There are approximately 100 family resource centres in the country. They are diverse; there are 12 or 13 in Kerry and ten in Galway. When one looks at the country as a unit, they play a vital role. That is where we should be putting in our counselling services. That is where we should be having that time-out to provide space for the families affected.

We have to look at how we are dispensing drugs and filling prescriptions. Do we need to fill everything on the prescriptions for the granny or whoever it is in the house? Unused drugs are now a target if they are lying around for kids who see they can make some money from them or who see their mates making it. It will involve a whole culture change to change the entire system. When one goes into collect drugs, they should only collect what is required so there is not a build-up in the presses at home. The build-up in the presses at home is becoming cash quality drugs for a generation to go and sell to prey. That is the reality.

The drugs task force we mentioned plays a vital role. Its members go out to communities and educate the community as a whole. It also gives a community an opportunity and safe space to discuss what they see going on day in, day out. It is an opportunity for the gardaí to come in to discuss it and share information in a safe space without naming anybody. I never realised that if one sees somebody with a jumper that was a little bit frazzled it could be because they were smoking drugs or something like that. That shows how inexperienced and not exposed to the real world I was. I learned that at a drugs task force meeting one night in a local community hall. They educate parents on what signs and symptoms to watch out for in their kids and if they are getting a bit down at home. These Z-drugs are creating huge pressure for the simple reason that children are getting high. Mental health issues are a knock-on effect of that. It is a never-ending story but one which we have to halt at some stage. It starts with education and how we support educators, parents and the family resource centres. We then have to look at how we are dispensing. That falls under the Department of Health and how we work with the pharmacies and make people responsibly aware that it is far more than a prescription they are collecting and that it has a huge effect on the person it is not meant for. It is a marketable product that can be sold on the market and which puts children's lives at risk, bringing down full families, devastating communities and it does not seem to end. If we do not stop it, it will continue to the next generation. I go back to the story of the child with the Tic Tac. The child with the Tic Tac is the child who has seen the parents dispense. We need to stop it. I wish the Minister of State the very best of luck. She will have all our support on this side of the House because we see it in all our communities and we do not want it to continue. We want to protect the future.

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