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

I will speak to amendment No. 17. It is a common-sense amendment. People with lived experience add value. It is not only me saying that as it is evidence-based and has been proven.

I worked in addiction services for countless years before I came in here and I have seen people with drug problems, alcohol problems and gambling problems. I have also seen these people recover. I have also seen these people come into organisations, whether to work directly for organisations or to come onto the board of organisations, and add value to those organisations. It is imperative that people with lived experience have their voice on the authority in order that they can bring that unique perspective.

When I worked on addiction services right across the board - I mentioned drugs and alcohol but even people with sex addiction and gambling addictions - and while addiction is the common trait, each individual addiction has different traits. This is where people who have gambling issues and gambling problems would offer that unique perspective if they were on the authority.

If you are taking drugs or alcohol, there is only so much drugs and drink you can take before you either pass out or are taken out of society. If you have a gambling problem, as long as you have the ability to put money on whatever it might be or the ability to get the money to put on, which is often where the problems come in, you can go on 24-7. That is where having somebody with that lived experience on a board or on the authority would be imperative.

I came from a really good presentation at the opening of a recovery café in the Clondalkin Addiction Support Programme today.

The message we got is recovery is possible, but people who are in recovery need to have the support of people like us and people in society to allow them to move on. As I said, people with lived experience have that insight. They could be on the authority and give that unique insight in a balanced way, so it is not all coming from the one way. This is a no-brainer. It is something we really need to look at to ensure we get it right and have people with real-life lived experience having their say in this really important matter.

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