Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, the Fine Gael Deputy, Paul Kehoe, said here that O'Connell Street was "full of druggies". I ask the Taoiseach to condemn this use of dehumanising and stigmatising language. I find it utterly incredible that a senior Deputy supporting the Government would speak in such a way, punching down at some of the most vulnerable people in our society, namely, those suffering from drug addiction. I worry that this reflects a certain approach by the Government of criminalising and stigmatising people when it is underfunding drug task forces right across the country. I am on the Tallaght drug task force, which is massively underfunded and the same applies throughout the country whereby these task forces have not recovered from massive cuts ten years ago.

I refer to the refusal by the Government to take a public health-driven approach instead of relying on criminalisation and stigmatising when Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael together have created the conditions of this crisis that exists in many of our communities because of the lack of investment in housing, social services and communities. I would like a condemnation of this comment and a commitment that this is not the sort of approach the Government will take.

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