Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank everyone who contributed. Everyone is generally in agreement on the necessity of this legislation or type of solution. We all get the natural justice aspect of those people who have done harm to the communities, in that the money is taken and put back into those communities to add extra funding to necessary projects that make life better. I will not reiterate my whole point but while this will be insufficient to deal with all that needs to be done in terms of the drugs pandemic, it is a good start and part of an overall solution.

I welcome much of that the Minister of State says, even with regard to the justice plan 2021. I have had many discussions, especially with the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, and the narrative I am hearing from Government is positive with regard to the multi-agency response and what is required. Deputy Munster and I, following the Guerin report, spoke to a number of officials in a meeting arranged by the Minister, Deputy McEntee. The officials were keyed in and spoke about projects about which they were well versed, such as the Greentown project and projects aimed at taking young people who are falling into criminality and removing them from those situations. We need more of that carried out.

As Deputy Ward said, it is all about those early interventions. We are dealing with issues caused by poverty. We need to have overall change in society and to deliver upon that. We need to give people hope and we need community-based solutions across the board, such as family and early interventions. Some of these have been carried out. There are pilot projects. The problem is sometimes they do not move beyond pilot projects but we need that to happen. We need to ensure we put our projects in place with irreversible momentum to ensure we deliver.

I welcome what Deputy Gino Kenny said. While we may vary with regard to the outworkings, we all need to accept we need to have a real conversation.

The war on drugs across the world and in this State is not working. What we are doing at present is not working, so we must have a wider conversation.

There is a need for the Government to establish a citizens' assembly. I also reiterate much of what Deputy Munster said. We have seen the Guerin report and we welcome the implementation board and the involvement of Mr. Martin O'Brien. We have congratulated Mr. Christy Mangan, the Garda and others on the massive work that was done, particularly through Operation Stratus. I am aware of much work that has been done in the Dundalk area, which has experienced high levels of criminality, including drug criminality, for many years. This has impacted greatly on communities. They are good communities but they do not have the resources. They have not been given the necessary resources and assistance. We have to give people those resources and work with them.

I welcome the new youth justice strategy. We must be able to deal with the fact that young people fall into and are being groomed by criminal gangs. We also need a strategic outlook and to be able to deliver. We cannot continue with the current situation where drug gangs can operate with impunity. For every one we put away, two more arrive on the scene. We have a massive problem and we must deal with it across the board. There must be a decent youth justice strategy. We must ensure there are greater community safety partnerships. I was involved with the local JPC and I know the JPCs in Louth contacted the Minister, Deputy McEntee, about this type of project. We accept and take for granted that the law and due diligence must be applied with regard to moneys taken. We accept that these are additional moneys. We are not particularly worried about what the solution is. We welcome the Minister of State's comment that there will be interaction on finding a solution that delivers for people. This is a simple first step that could make a huge difference. We should take the money from the drug dealers who have done massive harm to our communities and put it into projects that make life better in those communities.

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