Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am very pleased to have an opportunity to speak on this Private Members' motion. At the outset, I commend my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, on her work and her leadership. I heard Deputy Connolly mention straight talking and the need for it, and I do not know many people who are more straight-talking than Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, or more passionate when it comes to this area, as are many in other parties as well.

My second point is that until we as a country adopt a health-led approach to drug addiction, we will continue to fail those who suffer from drug addiction. That is why I am very proud that we launched the national drugs and alcohol strategy under the leadership of Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, with the Taoiseach last year. At its very core, that strategy talks about addressing the issues of addiction in a health-led way. Until we get real in relation to that issue, we will continue to fail people who have a drug addiction, their families, and the communities in which they live. The sort of tough talking that we often hear from conservative commentators and politicians in the United States about the "war on drugs" forgets that behind drug addiction are individual people. They are people with health needs, whose needs we need to meet. I am very pleased, hope and expect that we will be able to build cross-party support on this, just like there was previously at the Committee on Justice and Equality, on how we deal with drug use. We also have the interdepartmental group, which is due to report shortly, looking at the issue of decriminalisation.

The drugs phenomenon is an international issue that needs to be tackled in a co-ordinated way and addressed in a global context. I share the view of the United Nations General Assembly special session on drugs in 2016 that said that, "the world drug problem remains a common and shared responsibility that should be addressed in a multilateral setting through effective and increased international cooperation and demands an ... integrated, multidisciplinary, mutually reinforcing, balanced [scientific, evidence-based] and comprehensive approach."

Ireland’s drug problem is going through a particularly dynamic phase, as is indeed happening in other European countries. Analysis by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction shows that people are using a wider range of substances than in the past, and many are polydrug users which increases the risks to their health. Although the use of heroin and other opioids in Europe remains relatively rare, these are the drugs that cause the highest rates of fatal overdose in Europe. Europe has also experienced an increase in deaths and other harms from newer types of drugs. I therefore welcome the 75% reduction in the use of new psychoactive substances by young adults in Ireland between 2010 and 2015, but we need to remain vigilant.

The 62nd session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, CND, will take place in Vienna next week. My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, will represent our country at the high-level ministerial segment. The Minister of State will discuss the future direction of world drug policy and participate in setting priority goals going forward, leading to the adoption of a declaration by Ministers. This debate is especially timely. I assure the House that Ireland, along with other EU colleagues, will be a strong voice for a public health approach to drugs at this event. That is really the point where we have to take a health-led approach to drug addiction. There are other issues that we need to address, but we need to get that and cop on as a country as to how we respond to this issue. I am very pleased that the strategy has this at its very core.

Building the resilience of families and communities to respond to the drug problem is a key feature of our national drugs strategy. Community participation and consultation in shaping policy responses to drugs is therefore very important. This is a key role of the drug and alcohol task forces. Equally, measures which address underlying socio-economic disadvantage and the criminality associated with illegal drugs are critical to the development of that integrated response.

I acknowledge that many people in local communities live in fear due to drug related intimidation. It is a Government priority to help communities and protect them from intimidation because of such drug use. The use of violence or the threat of violence to enforce debts related to drug use further impacts on these communities by creating an atmosphere of fear and undermining the health and well-being of families affected and the wider community. I welcome the close collaboration between An Garda Síochána and the National Family Support Network to develop a programme to strengthen the effectiveness and public awareness of the drug related intimidation reporting programme. This is a key commitment under the strategy.

There are a number of initiatives targeted at addressing drug related crime. The Criminal Assets Bureau achieves nationwide coverage in the targeting of the proceeds of crime through the operation of the divisional assets profiler programme. These asset profilers work together with local Garda management and communities toward the objective of denying and depriving criminals of assets. There is now a national network of 378 trained asset profilers compared with 279 at the end of 2017. I want to acknowledge this afternoon the important role played by An Garda Síochána in tackling the supply of drugs by supporting local communities though various preventative and detection initiatives. The Government has allocated very significant resources to policing in recent years and the budget for an Garda Síochána has been increased to €1.76 billion for this year.

I refer specifically to north east inner city initiative, NEIC, as it is an example of the Government’s multifaceted response to drugs and drug related crime. The NEIC community is one that has borne the brunt of drug related crime. It is also a socio-economically disadvantaged community. On foot of the Mulvey report on the challenges of the area, the Government established a programme implementation board to oversee the implementation of its 24 actions to reduce criminality and improve living conditions in the area. I thank Deputy Enda Kenny who, during his time as Taoiseach, took a very personal interest in this as well.

From the outset of this initiative, there has been targeted community engagement and a focus on improving supports and facilities for a wide range of projects and services. One of the major alms of the initiative is to ensure the area is safe for families, residents and the people who work there. Since the start of this year, 51 new gardaí have been assigned to the area to provide reassurance to residents. Increased patrols targeting drug dealing and antisocial behaviour blackspots have also started to make a real and noticeable difference. Ensuring employment opportunities are maximised for local people is also a priority. Another key objective is to improve the physical environment and build that sense of pride in the area.

The Department of Health, in association with the HSE, has developed an integrated package of services to address addiction and related issues in the community. It is estimated that there are 1,000 people in receipt of drug treatment services in the north east inner city. There are an estimated 1,800 homeless people with significant health needs in the inner city, a large proportion of whom are in the in the north-east inner city. The total cost of the new services is €1.8 million, with €500,000 from HSE resources and €1.3 million from the programme implementation board. This is very much welcomed.

I know that the motion also refers to our Public Health (Alcohol) Act. The passage of that Act had significant learnings for us as an Oireachtas. It shows what we can do when we work together in a bipartisan fashion and when we stand up to vested interests who endeavoured to stymie this landmark legislation. It also shows what we can do when those of us in this House work with communities, civic society and medical experts outside of this House. That partnership model delivered the Public Health (Alcohol) Act, just like predecessors in my role managed to deliver similar initiatives on smoking. The challenge for us now on drugs is building that cross-party and societal consensus as to how we deal absolutely with the criminality aspects of drugs and that we crack down on the supply of drugs.

We also remember, however, that behind addiction is a human being and his or her family. We have to support that individual. As Minister for Health, I cannot stand over anything that does not take a health-led approach to drug addiction.

We have a strategy in place - Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery - and I re-emphasise the Government's commitment to it. I look forward to the report of the interdepartmental group on the issue of decriminalisation, which is due very shortly. I hope it provides us with a way forward in this area and I know the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, is deeply committed to that. Our public health-led approach requires services to work together, not in a siloed manner, in order that people do so not fall through the cracks as they try to navigate the different services required to meet their specific needs. At the same time, the strategy recognises the need to address the harms of illegal drug markets on local communities and wider society.

I look forward to continuing to working with the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, with colleagues from across the House and with wider society as we address the many important issues highlighted in the motion put forward by Independents 4 Change and in the Government's amendment.

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