Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this timely and important debate. There is probably a consensus in the House as to the way forward but I will reflect, like my colleague, Deputy Fitzpatrick, on issues in my constituency. What brought not just Drogheda, where I live, to national attention and international notoriety was the context of the murder of Keane Mulready-Woods, who was a young person, a child, as a result of a drug feud. That epitomised how low those people who are involved in criminal gangs and the drug trade can go.

It was a shocking and appalling murder and our town was and still is riddled with drugs, unfortunately. At that time, we were short significant investment in An Garda Síochána. There has been an increase of more than 47 in the number of gardaí dealing with the drug trade in Drogheda, 18 of whom are community gardaí. There was a significant response to that murder and it has been very successful and helpful in that respect.

The debate on the citizens’ assembly must encompass listening to the real witnesses who deal with criminality on a day-to-day basis, that is, the gardaí. I want to suggest the name of a former chief superintendent, Christy Mangan, who fought all his life, but particularly in his latter years in Drogheda. He is retired now. He has put most of these drug gangs behind bars. That was what needed to happen. He had a tough hand which he gave to the gardaí to ensure these criminals were put away.

On the other side, one has the Red Door in Drogheda, which deals with drugs issues on the ground. There is a lady there called Louise O'Mahony, the manager, who runs an outreach service for those who are suffering from drug abuse and for those who are outside of society. The service works day and night to ensure these people are dealt with and that the support services are there for them.

I refer to the Health Services Executive, HSE, which I think I might call the health seekers executive. I have a copy of the final report of the HSE review of addiction services in Louth and Meath, published in June 2021. I would have thought that when I asked the Minister for a copy of it, I would get it but I did not. I had to go through the freedom of information process to find out the dysfunctionality in the HSE in my region of Louth and Meath, in particular. It operates in silos where there is a refusal to integrate and work with community services. The HSE is dealing with that now and this report deals with the changes it is making, but documents like this should not be hidden from public view. They should be put into the public domain where people can get them; where Deputies or anybody who wants them can get them. They can read about what exactly is going on, what the HSE is doing, what the plus and minuses are, and what the community service is like. If it is bad, it is bad, but let us get it out there and deal with it. We should not be hiding these facts.

I am aware my time is very short. I was hoping my colleague, Deputy Lawless, would not come into the House, so I would have the opportunity to speak for the other four minutes. This point is on the Drogheda implementation plan which arose from the Drogheda: creating a bridge to a better future, the Guerin report, which dealt with the awful murder of Keane Mulready-Woods and how the community was dealing with that. The Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, has done a fantastic job and is providing significant funding to the communities which suffer most from drug abuse in my town. They work with policing, family supports and with children and young people in education and on the creation of employment and on business and enterprise. That is not to forget community development, arts, culture and sport.

I do not have enough time to say what I want to say. That is one of the problems when one is a backbencher. The Minister of State, who had 20 minutes to speak, is excellent. I was lucky to get my four minutes. I would like to have more time to talk on this. We should have an interim report from the citizens’ assembly where we should be able to make our own input into it. I know I am using Deputy Lawless's time, but I know he will forgive me for that.

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