Results 41-60 of 79 for drugs speaker:Mark Ward

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Admissions (4 May 2022)

Mark Ward: 514. To ask the Minister for Health if he will report on the new model of care for persons presenting with self-harm that are under the influence of drugs and alcohol and the way that they fit into the model of care; the supports that are available for dual diagnosis in this scenario; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22069/22]

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Mental Health Services (8 Mar 2022)

Mark Ward: ...wait six or eight weeks before getting into Keltoi. The HSE closed that gap because, in the gap, people died. People left the Cuan Dara detox centre after doing a detox and may have started using drugs again because they did not have a continuum of care, but did so at the levels they were using before detox. Having been through detox, their tolerance levels were not as high and many...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Mental Health Services (8 Mar 2022)

Mark Ward: ...the service I was working in and was immediately provided with key working. She was then given counselling and a care plan was developed for her. Part of that care plan was to get her ready for a drug detox in the Cuan Dara centre in Cherry Orchard. The patient went to Cuan Dara and completed the detox. She was then ready to go from Cuan Dara to Keltoi, which was the natural continuing...

Joint Committee On Health: General Scheme of the Mental Health (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Mar 2022)

Mark Ward: I am sure she is a very unique person to Ms Hough. Unfortunately, and I do not say this to disparage, Valerie's story is not unique. I have heard many times about overmedication with powerful drugs, the importance for medical experts of giving a label and a diagnosis, and the lack of alternative therapies such as talk therapies. Valerie's experience in emergency departments is similar to...

Committee Report on Key Issues Affecting the Traveller Community: Statements (3 Mar 2022)

Mark Ward: ...suffered from depression. This compares with just 8% of the general population. The report identified the factors impacting negatively on Traveller mental health as loneliness, discrimination, drug addiction, family break-up, children's mental health and financial hardships. Why do I mention that? It is 2022 and the findings of the report before the House show that very little has...

Coercion of a Minor (Misuse of Drugs Amendment) Bill 2022: First Stage (26 Jan 2022)

Mark Ward: I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the law relating to the misuse of a controlled substance and for those purposes to amend the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 to criminalise the act of causing or coercing a minor to be in possession of a controlled substance, and to provide for related matters. Drug use and drug selling by young people from disadvantaged...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Health Services (7 Dec 2021)

Mark Ward: ...resilience across many Departments, and not only the Department of Health. Last week, it was about dismantling the local jobs clubs, and this week it relates to community involvement in the drugs strategy. There seems to be a direct threat from the Government to communities and their resilience. Any chance the Government has to erode such resilience is grabbed with both hands. I am...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products (16 Nov 2021)

Mark Ward: 505. To ask the Minister for Health when the reduction in the threshold for the drug payment scheme will come into effect. [55542/21]

Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed) (11 Nov 2021)

Mark Ward: ...happening again because these machines are weapons in untrained hands. As was also mentioned earlier, we have also seen unscrupulous gangsters and criminals using younger people on scramblers to transport drugs and money. Legislation must be brought in to tighten up that aspect as well, and Sinn Féin has proposed such legislation in the past. It has always been said that imitation...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Drug Dealing (9 Nov 2021)

Mark Ward: As the Minister of State knows, crack cocaine is a dirty, hungry drug. There is no such thing as enough for the people who are using it and that is the problem with it. It is not a new thing. It has been around for years. I worked on drugs task forces more than 20 years ago and crack cocaine was on the scene then, but because of the lack of resources they had at the time, they were unable...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Drug Dealing (9 Nov 2021)

Mark Ward: ...basis as a result of the work I used to do. I thank and commend the TDATF for its really stark report on the realities of living with crack cocaine. I am a former director of the Clondalkin drugs and alcohol task force and have worked in front-line addiction centres across Dublin over the years. As was said, these services are working with one hand behind their back because funding has...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Child Poverty: Discussion (9 Nov 2021)

Mark Ward: ...in more disadvantaged communities. The first question I will ask concerns an area I am doing work in at the moment. We have seen criminals using children for their own selfish needs as drug mules, drug couriers and so on. Have the witnesses experienced this? Children see this as a way out of poverty. I was speaking to a few of them and to a few organisations. They see the flash...

Joint Committee On Health: Impact of Covid-19 on Children: Discussion (20 Oct 2021)

Mark Ward: ...in the Dáil last night, and I wonder whether the witnesses have had experience of it. We are seeing people as young as ten years of age being groomed by older criminals into criminality in terms of drug use, drug crime and transporting money. There has been a visible increase in the number of young people experimenting with drug use. For example, one can see discarded nitrous oxide...

Access of Competent Authorities to Centralised Bank Account Registries: Motion (19 Oct 2021)

Mark Ward: ...lifestyles and even more extravagant nicknames. Those who live or who have lived in areas targeted by organised crime have a different view. We have seen parts of our communities ripped apart by drug use and drug crime. On the one hand, we have seen our neighbours, friends and schoolmates stricken by drug use. On the other hand, we have seen young people’s lives wiped out on the...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products (14 Oct 2021)

Mark Ward: 166. To ask the Minister for Health if he has given consideration to frontline treatment for hyperemesis to be included on the drug payment scheme and the medical card scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50185/21]

Joint Committee On Health: Impact of Covid-19 on Addiction Services: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Mark Ward: .... As someone who has worked in addiction services right across Dublin for most my adult life, I hear their pain in some of the stuff they mentioned. I was also on the board of the Clondalkin drugs and alcohol task force for a long time and one of the problems we had was budgetary constraints, which led to us being more reactive than proactive. As much as we tried to fight against that,...

Joint Committee On Health: Impact of Covid-19 on Addiction Services: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Mark Ward: ...community policing to solve these problems and allow people to breathe. At that stage, by all means, we can have a debate around criminalisation and deregulation. Any high-level criminal putting drugs into the hands of a 10-year-old or 11-year-old to make themselves rich must be criminalised. Legislation must be brought in for this. The Rutland Centre is not too far from my area...

The National Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027 and Supporting Community Safety: Statements (6 Oct 2021)

Mark Ward: ...most active. What we want to see is the money put back into community services that have seen their funding cut. We want to see family resource centres, youth organisations, unemployment services, sports clubs, drugs task forces and others being able to benefit from this fund. This was the money that was ripped from our communities in the first place. There is no better way to tackle...

Criminal Justice (Public Order) (Quadbikes and Scramblers) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Sep 2021)

Mark Ward: ...that into consideration before they purchase these bikes for their children. At one point along the canal - in fairness, the Garda carried out a big operation there - these scramblers were used quite openly to assist drug dealing. It was very clever with one lad going up with drugs in his hand and another lad coming back collecting the money. This meant that they never had the drugs...

Proceeds of Crime (Investment in Disadvantaged Communities) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (8 Jul 2021)

Mark Ward: ...no resources whatsoever but they did the best they had. That is the community resilience we need to build on and start supporting and resourcing. I was on the board of the Clondalkin drug and alcohol task force for a number of years. We wanted to start an under-18 project for outreach with members of our community who were falling into criminality and drug use. It had not got the...