Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State said that individuals affected by problem drug or alcohol use often have higher levels of physical comorbidity and that alcohol may make an individual‘s immune system less affective. That is offensive. These people are in recovery. Many of them have not had a drink for years. The Minister is saying they will never be out of recovery because in his eyes they will always be in addiction. That is what he is saying and that is grossly offensive. I have brought it up with the Minister of State before. That is not fair. These people are doing their best.

I have read out what we are hearing from these people. The meetings are a lifeline. We are here and we can have a meeting with more than 15 people. We can manage it here and do it safely. They want to do it safely and I welcome the fact that the Minister of State said he will engage but I am not sure if he gets the urgency of this or grasps how important these meetings are in order for people to keep their recovery going. These are not only people with drug and alcohol addiction but people with gambling and other addictions. They have no comorbidity. What is the excuse for gamblers? They are not at greater risk. They are not under the influence of alcohol or damaged by alcohol misuse.

The Minister of State said he will look at this proactively and will instruct people in his Department to work on it, and I welcome that. However, when he comes out with offensive language, it makes me wonder how sincere and committed he is. These meetings are a lifeline to people struggling to stay in recovery and out of addiction.

It is no less than the Minister of State's job to make sure these meetings can happen. They are, as described by the Minister for Health, essentially, a public health service. They are an essential service and I urge the Minister of State to treat them as such and to look around. It is possible, with a bit of imagination, for people to meet in a room. I ask the Minister of State to be more proactive.

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