Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. As part of my responsibilities when I was Minister of State with responsibility for the national drugs strategy, I took the opportunity to visit as many clinics and speak to as many service operators and service users as I could. Last year, I visited a clinic on Granby Row off Dorset Street where I met a wonderful woman who was travelling from the midlands to Dublin every day to access her methadone. She was a young mother getting her life back together. She took a bus from Portlaoise to the national drug treatment centre in Trinity Court and back every day because she was told she would have had to wait six months for treatment where she lived. Three weeks ago, she died of an overdose. I am told that those who have come to a stage in their lives with their addictions when they realise they cannot go on and ask for help are told they have to wait between six months and two years to get on a methadone maintenance programme. There is a cap on the number of clients certain clinics can help.

I appreciate the efforts of the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne in this regard. I have observed her work at first hand and listened to a number of her speeches.I was at an event a few mornings ago at which she gave an incredibly impassioned speech about our responsibility to treat those who are vulnerable due to their addictions with the most compassion possible. I believe she is doing a sound job and I support her in everything she is doing. However, what is the Department's and the Government's response on how to shorten the waiting time to access this essential treatment programme? Also, what can we do to ensure that clinics such as the one on Granby Row have the capacity to deal with all those who require their services? Obviously, we must address the long waiting times, but having caps on the numbers of patients clinics can deal with does not stand up to scrutiny.

This is a life or death issue. I am advocating for people who are often not well thought of or well regarded in our society. I was incredibly struck when I heard the news last week that the beautiful person I had met, who was getting her life together and doing her best to overcome her addiction by travelling from Portlaoise to Dublin every day to make her and her child's life better, had succumbed to her addiction three weeks ago and died on the street of an overdose. We could save lives by changing or re-evaluating how we are doing things. The people on the front line simply wish to be given the tools to do their work better.