Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too support this Bill. I thank and compliment Deputies Ward, Mitchell and Martin Kenny for bringing forward this legislation this evening. It is an honest effort by Teachtaí who have experience of what is happening on the ground. I mean no personal criticism but I sometimes wonder whether the system here is capable of understanding this massive problem with taking and dealing drugs, which is found across all strata of society including among professionals and everybody else. This brings misery to ordinary citizens, who tend to be, as others have said, people from poorer backgrounds or who have not had a good time in life. However, it also often the case that people from other walks of life fall off the cliff. It starts and then becomes a spiralling cycle. I was in the Chamber this morning to ask a question on health. I ask that more drug workers be appointed in my own area in Tipperary. We are 50% short of our proper complement of mental health staff in all the other areas of the health system. It is spiralling out of control.

Families face misery, intimidation and threats. Other Deputies have recounted instances of these and I will do so as well. There are families who have been devastated. I have grandparents who come to me - it is seldom parents but normally grandparents - and tell me that their grandson has been threatened and has to emigrate to Australia. In one case, the grandson in question did not like Australia and came back after a year and was then intimidated to such a degree that he took his own life. That has happened more than once in my own town of Clonmel.

We are not doing enough. The Garda resources are just not sufficient. There is a new Garda policy. We saw it in Tipperary on Monday morning. We had a chief superintendent, Derek Smart. He was a good guy to deal with and very hands-on. However, the amount of resources and number of gardaí across the whole county was miserable. Mr. Smart's position is now gone and the new chief superintendent for Tipperary, whose name eludes me, is based in Clare and covers two counties. There are issues with the distance, the disconnect and the removal of the powers that be and the connections.

I salute ordinary gardaí, including community gardaí and the limited number who are on the drug squads, on the work they do but we have to deal with two fronts here. We obviously have to deal with the criminality but we also have to deal with the cause and to be compassionate with people. There are videos circulating of incidents on the streets of my town last Friday, and every day for that matter, involving unfortunate people who are literally staggering around, falling and abusing each other and other people in the middle of the day. We need people to support them and to try to get them into rehabilitation. We also have to look at free legal aid. We must try to get at this issue in schools. I am not blaming schools or those at home but vaping and the kinds of substances used are a problem now as well. We have had unfortunate incidents involving vaping in Tipperary. It is very hard to stop it when it starts. There is a lot of money involved. Everyone knows the gangs involved. We have been looking at Drogheda and other towns over the years and warning and pleading that this not be allowed happen in other towns but it has been replicated. The people involved have been quoted as saying that they have an army and cannot be touched.

It is unbelievable.

I see the Minister of State is not opposing this Bill and he is talking about bringing in legislation himself. The legislation has to be robust and strong, as well as compassionate. However, all the legislation in the world is useless if we do not have the resources and the health workers, alongside the other organisations like the Garda, social workers, mental health staff and beds, and therapeutic services. We do not have them in all the buildings belonging to the HSE. We are in a very sad place. It is so sad that people and families get entrapped and are not able to do anything. The Minister of State is going to accept this Bill but I do not know how far it will go after that. I compliment the Deputies who put it forward.

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