Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)

In the last Dáil, I was very honoured to be the party spokesperson on addiction, recovery and well-being. It was a privilege for me to meet all the different groups and organisations who were working at the front line, supporting people in recovery and those in the throws of addiction and supporting their families. I commend my colleague, Deputy Graves, who has taken over this role now. She has hit the ground running and is doing a huge amount of work. A huge amount of work is needed here, especially for those who are in the throws of addiction, for those who are trying to start the recovery journey and for those who are well into that journey.

The Minister has to be honest as to the attitude of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael over the years. We saw it in the Chamber in the last Dáil. There were some appalling and stigmatising comments about people who are in the throws of addiction. Even the last Minister, when I made the point that at least one person with lived experience of gambling should be on the gambling board, said they would not be able for it or that it would be too challenging for them. How patronising is that for a person who has the lived experience. The thing here is that we need to listen to people with the lived experience about what they have gone through.

The only promise the Government has made is in relation to the citizens' assembly. This report had detailed recommendations. Not all were agreed and more work was needed. That is now what the Joint Committee on Drugs Use is doing. We need to support that work and to tease out these issues because we have a crisis. I know from personal experience of my own family members and friends. I have friends and family members who have died. I am not going to go into it here but I get it. I understand it. It comes from trauma, from poverty and from a lack of services and supports.

There needs to be a fundamental change by this Government when it comes to funding task forces, drugs services and rehabilitation services, supporting people in recovery and how it perceives people in addiction. If you walk the streets of any city or town, or even some villages, you will see people in the throes of it. People walk past them and do not even look at them. It is not like they are not human beings. Every one of them has a family, their own story and their own voice and we have to support them. One of the really important bits of work that was done in the committee in the last Dáil was that we heard from experts from Portugal, America and British Columbia. In British Columbia they were very forward-thinking in relation to decriminalisation, but after 15 months they had to row back because suddenly people were taking drugs in playgrounds, in parks and on the streets. There was a free-for-all. We need to get these experts in. I am thinking of the work that has been done in Portugal. Our joint committee on drugs can get all these experts in and come up with a plan. We can learn from what has been done in other jurisdictions - both the mistakes made and the good work done – and bring forward a policy.

I will finish on this. We want to work with people. Deputy Kelly said a while ago that the Labour Party Members are bringing this forward because they think it is a really important piece of work. I think the vast majority of us feel we can work together on this but there has to be an open agenda and an open attitude to it.

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