Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I begin by thanking the 27 Deputies who took the time to come to the Chamber to speak on this issue. It was the same with the Senators last week. The drugs issue is beyond politics or political parties. It is about people's lives. It is in every town and village throughout the country so it is not just relevant to the capital city. It knows no boundaries. It can affect people who are very wealthy or poor and it can affect the marginalised. The issue goes right across the board.

I have taken many details about what people have said. I intend to read through them thoroughly and I have picked out certain issues that people have raised as well, including the issue of decriminalisation. I stated in the Seanad last week that I do not want to criminalise any young person. Sometimes, when young people get into a criminal activity for whatever reason, it can be difficult for them to shake off that black mark throughout their lives. It can lead to a life of criminal activity rather than escaping such activity. We must consider that in the long run, although this is not the appropriate time for that. I will explain the reasons for that.

A number of people made clear their deep convictions and understanding of the drugs issues in areas they represent, such as parishes and towns.

I have taken a great deal from what they have said and I will look at the issues in more detail. I want to quote one or two people who spoke, particularly last night. Deputy Jack Chambers said, "It is an area in need of major reform in terms of our approach" and he is right. The whole area of drug addiction and the way we look on people who take drugs needs to be reformed and we need to look at it in more depth. I was struck by something Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan said. She has a wealth of experience not only in education, but also in dealing with people in the community in which she has lived and worked all her life. It is only a small line, but she said "I really feel that we need to look at prevention education in a different way". She is correct. Just as Deputy Chambers said, we need to look at it in a different way.

I visited Ballymun last week and listened to a report that was done there. I cannot remember the name, but Deputy Róisín Shortall mentioned her last night. She very much welcomed the publication of the Bill and said that it is a long time coming. Last week, I visited the local Ballymun task force, where this document was produced. It gives information on the people who use the services but more so the people who give the services and what happens to them. The pressure that is put on them both emotionally and physically can even get to the point that some people who are involved in dealing with drug addiction and chronic users burn out. I have read the document and I intend going back to them about some of the points that were raised.

I have not been hiding in the grass for the past 60 years. I was born and reared in the area where I still live. From an early age I was very active, working in the parish and the community, on local summer projects, youth clubs and everything else. In our community, where I have lived and worked, we have had our fair share of devastation because of drugs. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan described it last night as a nightmare and it was a nightmare when one brought one's children out of the house in the morning to see somebody in the front garden with a syringe stuck in their arm, injecting themselves. Senior citizens could not go to the local shops and had to change the post office where they collected their pension because they were afraid to pass by people who were either openly selling methadone or injecting themselves. It was a serious crisis.

However, there are two sides to every story and there are victims. There are victims right across the country, in all our families, in our neighbourhoods and in our extended families. I have had my fair share of dealing with victims in my own extended family, where people who, for whatever reason, got involved in drug addiction and were used to distribute drugs as well ended up with their lives being threatened and other people having to step in to try to get them out of trouble. I know many grandparents locally who come to talk to me about having to go to the credit union and borrow money just to pay off the debts of their grandsons, granddaughters and family members because of the state they have got themselves into. This is not news to anybody. Everybody here in this Chamber knows what I am talking about because they probably hear those people as well.

Deputy Catherine Connolly asked me last night whether I had read the report that was done by Deputy David Stanton and the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. I have read it in depth and I cannot find in its conclusions anything with which I would disagree. However, we live in our own country and we need to examine not only the Portuguese model, but also other models and we need to come up with something that suits us as a nation. I intend in the time I am in this position, whether that is long or short, to look at this issue. I intend to find an effective way to help those people who, for whatever reason, fall into crime through drugs, and particularly young people, because a blight on a young person's passport so that they cannot go away on a holiday or cannot get a job is something that could lead any of us, if we were in that situation, to a life of crime.

I had time to read a few bits and pieces around our own drug treatment court and from reading about it and the people involved in it, and talking to them, I was impressed. It does not tick all the boxes, but there is something there that can be built on. It may not be like the Portuguese model or the model in Sydney or other places people have spoken about, but once we have something to start from, it is something we should look at.

I just want to go to one or two other things, and I promise the Acting Chairman that I will not go over time. He can shout at me if I do.

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