Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to thank Deputy Ó Ríordáin for bringing forward this motion and I welcome Councillor Daithí Doolan to the Visitors Gallery. He is a comrade of mine who, like myself, has worked in addiction services right across Dublin over the years. In all those years we have seen so many of our citizens fall between the cracks.

The culture of drugs use has changed. Years ago, people who took drugs had a primary drug of choice but polydrug use is now the norm. It is almost impossible to get a detox bed if you are a polydrug user. The bar for getting into treatment is set very high. Going cold turkey is not an option for people who consume large amounts of alcohol or benzodiazepines because to stop taking them straight away could be fatal. We need to reimagine how people can enter treatment.

But any changes in legislation must be matched by resourcing our communities. If the law was changed tomorrow and we were sending people to treatment rather than prison, it would not work because the resources and the services are just not there. Years of underinvestment by successive Governments has seen to this. Community drug projects cannot strategically plan as resources do not allow. We must put in the resources to allow our communities to respond. We also need to have an adult conversation around dual diagnosis. We need to have a no-wrong-door policy for people with dual diagnosis of addiction and mental health.

While we are talking about decriminalisation, what is a crime is that the only inpatient dual diagnosis facility in the State, Keltoi, has been closed for over two years. I have had many discussions with the Minister of State on this. I will not second-guess any reshuffle that might take place after the new Taoiseach takes office but if the Minister of State is one of those to move, I would ask him that as his parting shot, he do the right thing and reopen Keltoi as a matter of urgency. That needs to happen.

We fully support a citizens' assembly on drug use but we must make sure our young people voices are heard there. The Department of Health held a consultation to gather the views of young people recently. They have asked to make sure that their voices are heard at any future citizens' assembly. We must not lose the youth voice on this debate.

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