Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will give my view, regardless of whether it is the view of all the people in Kilgarvan. I am always of the opinion that when most people get up in the morning they do so with good intentions to do well for themselves and everybody else. Likewise, I believe every Member elected to this Chamber tries to do their best to represent the people who elected them and, indeed, the people who did not vote for them.

While this could be deemed a laudable proposal, I am worried about how it will pan out. How will the number of people to be treated in this unit be selected? Will it be an awful crowd and could it get bigger? Could we have more of these units around the country? Where will they be located? When somebody starts a business in a building in any part of Ireland, whatever planning permission there was for the use of the building beforehand they must apply for planning permission for change of use. That gives the people in the community and the area a chance to voice their concerns one way or the other. Will that be the case for these centres? Otherwise it would be very unfair to people with young children in a community close to the centre. They would be justified to be worried about people arriving to their area, be it on foot, by bicycle or by car, because they will end up wherever the facility will be. The people in the area are entitled to have an opportunity to decide whether they are in favour of it.

As I said, the idea sounds good but it could develop into a very sad reality for many people later. Will it increase the number of users? How much will they be allowed to inject? Will people just come to these centres for the drug if they cannot get it elsewhere? I am worried about aspects of the legislation and for that reason I must oppose the proposal until I become more aware of what the outcome will be.

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