Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We saw a report from the Health Research Board, HRB, this week on presentations to addiction treatment centres that shows, for the first time in the history of the State, that cocaine addiction has overtaken opioids as the drug for which treatment is most frequently sought. We know that, unlike opioids, there is no medical substitute for cocaine. This makes treatment more complex. The results of this research are worrying. The Government must take them as a wake-up call to begin to fund addiction services properly because it is failing communities, ordinary people and, especially, young people through the lack of supports.

We need to stop young people from being drawn into drugs. We need to stop criminals from targeting young people. The reality is that, for many young people, drugs can be recreational and leave them with no problems but this is not the issue for all young people. Where there are issues like mental health, poverty, trauma or problems in the home, drugs can be an escape and addiction can follow. We need to begin by staging interventions on this. The easiest way to tackle addiction is prevention. We need to see the youth justice strategy have an approach that includes prevention and working with young people. We need to see a real programme in the schools with access to qualified drug counsellors who can educate children, talk them through the problems and, hopefully, keep them away from addiction.

Another key way I believe we can do this is through sport. For young people, cost can be a barrier. Sinn Féin proposed a sports leisure card system that would see every child given access to €130 to be used in sport or leisure activities. In Iceland, this approach reduced underage drinking and smoking.

Alongside prevention, we need intervention. Young offending often happens in areas where high levels of poverty or deprivation are rife. The reality is that, much like addiction, poverty can often be the root cause of young offending. We need to seriously tackle poverty and ensure there are pathways out of poverty for every young person in the State. Too often, by the time young people reach the age of criminal responsibility, it is too late. They are already engaged in serious criminality. Tusla must intervene in cases and recognise, as is done in Scotland, that young offending is a symptom of need and neglect and damages children and their futures. We must be serious in our actions and see full implementation of the youth justice strategy along with other important strategies. We must reach out to allow for credible and meaningful interventions. When we do this, young people who are engaged in criminality are given an opportunity to develop meaningful lives and become important members of communities.

Early childhood experience has a profound effect on a young person's life. Sports and education are the key in trying to prevent young people from getting involved in criminality or addiction. We ask that the resources be put in place to support this. I have seen cases in my constituency of young people of nine, ten or 11 years of age being involved in criminality. I have met the Garda and contacted Tusla. These are vulnerable children and victims because of the poverty and deprivation they have grown up with. We need interventions to give these children hope. I also see in other communities where young people stay in sport and education that there is a dramatic reduction in the number of people who get involved in criminality or addiction. I have been involved for 37 years in coaching teams, from street leagues to adults. I have seen kids who unfortunately did not make it and I have seen young people who were able to change their lives because of the friendships, coaching and mentoring they got from the GAA, of which I am a member, and from soccer and other sports.

We need to give young people hope. We need to keep them away from criminals who will use them and, hopefully, out of addiction.

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