Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators who have contributed. I will not name all of them. I acknowledge the rawness with which Senator Ruane can speak about this matter. I am aware of her commitment to her community and to the people she represents in the context of how individuals so cruelly trapped in addiction can be affected, possibly because of the places and postcodes from which they come. I agree that addiction in poorer communities has a far greater impact than in more affluent communities.

I will make a few remarks regarding the co-ordinators and the HSE. I will have to come back to Senator Ruane because I do not have the answer in front of me.

In response to Senator Nash, I visited the Red Door Project on a number of occasions and held meetings with all the strategy groups. The Red Door Project does wonderful work, as do many groups around the country but we have a budget and within that budget, we are limited as to what we can resource. I acknowledge the work of the Red Door Project.

I agree with Senator Paul Daly that for far too long, people in rural Ireland did not really understand and probably had not felt the impact of drugs. The furthest reaches of our country are now affected by drugs. On foot of visiting them and speaking to the rural task forces, I know the difficulty they face in terms of outreach services to people in isolated communities. We will begin to resolve this as time goes by because we do not merely need services in the capital and in other cities, the are also needed in rural areas. Putting in place sub-committees in rural communities that can connect with local task forces might be a way of expanding those services. That is something I would like to work on during my tenure as Minister of State.

I am pleased to address the House on the very important matter of our national drugs strategy, Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery - a health led response to drug and alcohol use in Ireland 2017-2025, and to take this opportunity to reiterate my commitment and that of Government to it. Somebody said that this is my strategy; it is not. This is the people's strategy. It came from consultation with people from every sector and from across the country, including those who have been in addiction, recovered from addiction and families who have lost loved ones to addiction. The strategy is based on the experiences of the many people who came together in their communities at public meetings and bared their souls to me and others. I thank them for doing so.

In July 2017, I joined with the Taoiseach and the Minister of Health in launching the national drugs strategy. We remain committed to the strategy and to addressing the serious issue of drug and alcohol misuse. The strategy adopts a health-led approach to substance misuse. It commits to treating substance misuse and drug addiction as public health issues rather than as criminal justice matters.

In conjunction with the Minister for Health and the Minister for Justice and Equality, I recently announced the introduction a health diversion programme for persons in possession of drugs for personal use. This is a hugely important step in developing this health-led approach. I am very pleased that we are delivering on this key commitment in the national drugs strategy because it was one of the commitments made. A group of people came together and worked tirelessly to come up with different approaches. I am sure Members are very familiar with one of those approaches, namely, the health diversion programme.

Last week, I opened the second annual national drugs forum. It provided an opportunity for nearly 200 stakeholders working in this sector to come together, to network and to share knowledge and experience. The theme was "Inclusion health: responding to the complex health needs of people who use drugs". This is a further example of our commitment to a health-led approach to the use of drugs.

In all, there are 50 actions in the national drugs strategy. These are reported upon on an annual basis, which is publicly available. The annual progress report is also presented to the national oversight committee made up of all stakeholders and discussed in detail at a sub-committee level. The strategy will be reviewed in 2021 and an updated set of actions will be agreed for the remaining period from 2021 to 2025.

In the context of funding, I am pleased to report that expenditure on HSE on drug and alcohol services has increased from €94 million in 2016 to over €100 million in 2018. This funding is used by the HSE to deliver a wide range of services, including early intervention, treatment and rehabilitation. I am pleased to note that the number of cases availing of drug treatment services in 2018 was 10,274, an increase of 1,300 on 2017, or over 15%. The proportion of new cases presenting in 2018 was 39%, up from 37% in 2017. The increase in numbers seeking treatment is encouraging from a public health perspective but, of course, any indication that the use of certain drugs, including cocaine, is on the rise is a matter of concern and one we are determined to continue to respond to.

My Department also provides €28 million to drug and alcohol task forces through various channels of funding, including the HSE. This funding supports over 280 community projects prioritised by drug task forces in local areas and communities throughout the country. I gave an additional €20,000 for each of the 24 task forces this year, or €500,000 in total. Funding has also been provided for 13 strategic health initiatives that reflect regional priorities agreed between the HSE community health organisations and the drug and alcohol task forces and will ensure that resources are targeted at groups most in need. The Department website provides specific indications of where that money went. It went right across the country to support young people in the context of substance misuse, important outreach work in Galway, youth addiction counselling services in Kerry, case management and clinical supervisors, informing care interventions, hidden harm interventions focused on children and young people, community alcohol and detox projects, supporting women to access appropriate drug and alcohol rehabilitation and aftercare support regarding drugs and alcohol services, an antenatal and post-natal care partnership for women using drugs or alcohol and establishing a service user participation programme to optimise the service users' recovery and treatment. Over €500,000 went into those 13 strategic health initiatives reflecting priorities agreed with the people involved in the task forces. I am confident that these new initiatives, which are aligned with the objectives of Sláintecare, will have a positive impact and make a difference to people’s lives as they journey to recovery.

Measuring the overall effectiveness of the response to the problem of drugs is an important policy objective. I want to ensure that resources are directed towards those interventions that are most likely to lead to a reduction in problem drug use and a positive improvement in public health. The strategy commits to operationalising a performance measurement system by 2020 to improve accountability across the statutory, community and voluntary sectors and to strengthen the drug and alcohol task force model in consultation with relevant stakeholders and sectors.

The partnership approach between the statutory, non-statutory and community and voluntary sectors underpins the strategy. Drug and alcohol task forces play a key role in ensuring that a co-ordinated approach is taken as well as developing responses to substance misuse based on locally identified need. The Department of Health provides annual funding of €225,000 to support, develop and facilitate the involvement of communities in the local and national structures for implementing the strategy.Indeed, there are 11 community and voluntary representatives on the national oversight structure - the national drugs strategy - which gives them a direct say in the development of the strategy. A key challenge in the national drugs strategy is to reduce the number of lives lost to drug overdose. More than 350 people died due to drug overdoses in 2016. Overdose deaths are preventable and tackling them requires a public health response. Some 31 overdose deaths occurred in 2016 among people who injected heroin, and the majority of them occurred in Dublin city. The establishment of a medically supervised injecting facility in Dublin city centre would provide an appropriate healthcare response, especially for those who inject drugs and are homeless. This in turn will make our city safer for residents, children, tourists and workers but, mostly, it will save lives.

I strongly support the appeal by Merchants Quay Ireland to An Bord Pleanála to overturn the decision by Dublin City Council to refuse planning permission for the critical healthcare facility in Dublin city. We cannot be complacent about the dangers of drugs. The Department of Health works closely with the HSE to raise awareness on the dangers associated with drugs through the drugs.ie. There is limited evidence that the mass media campaigns are effective at reducing the use of drugs and alcohol. Therefore, the HSE favours more targeted awareness campaigns. In 2019, the HSE developed and promoted two national campaigns aimed at students and festival goers, who may not present at traditional addiction services. Next year, the HSE will commence a national campaign to raise awareness of the risk associated with drug use and recommend steps on how people can reduce the harm. This work will include information about club drugs, festival drugs, newer drugs as well as cannabis.

While the national drugs strategy is a health-led approach, it also emphasises that tackling of sale and supply of drugs is a key priority for the Government and for An Garda Síochána. This is achieved by supporting local communities through various prevention and detection interventions and engagement with local and regional drugs task forces, the Garda youth diversion programme and projects, the Garda schools programme; the joint policing committees and community policing fora. The Government has dedicated very significant additional resources to An Garda Síochána in recent years, and this has enabled the Garda Commissioner to continue to assign resources to tackle drugs.

In addition to the 105 gardaí assigned to the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, as of 30 September, there are approximately 230 further personnel assigned to the Garda divisional drug units addressing demand reduction and supply reduction at local level. I am fully aware of the reality of the drug-related violence and intimidation for families and communities. The drug related intimidation reporting programme, developed by An Garda Síochána and the National Family Support Network, in 2013 responded to the needs of drug users and family members experiencing drug-related intimidation. An Garda Síochána and the National Family Support Network are currently implementing a joint action plan designed to enhance the effectiveness of the programme through training, knowledge sharing and awareness raising. This follows separate evaluations of the programme by An Garda Síochána and the National Family Support Network.

For all of us the most important thing in life is to protect our children. The Minister for Justice and Equality has stated that he is considering the grooming of children by those who control criminal activity as an extremely serious matter and has asked the Department of Justice and Equality officials to consider the effective response, which may be a combination of policy, legislative and operational measures. The Department of Justice and Equality’s budget for the Garda youth diversion programme has been steadily increased over the last number of years, from €11 million in 2015 to €15 million in 2019. This provision includes funding of 106 Garda youth diversion projects. The important projects are community-based, multi-agency crime prevention interventions, which seek to divert young people who have become involved with crime and anti-social behaviour.

I could probably spend the next 20 minutes trying to respond to some of the issues. As was said by Senators, including Senator Conway from my own party, I come from a background similar to many in the Seanad and the Dáil. People are targeted by criminal gangs, particularly young people. I was a youth leader and I found that many of the young people who came into the youth club did not reach their 18th birthday because of the scourge of addiction. It affected not only them but their families. Senators spoke about how important it is that we make sure that communities, like the one I represent, like the north inner city and like many other communities across the country, are not forgotten, and that there is a proper way to deal with communities, particularly communities that face intimidation on a daily basis. We must structure services, like those in the north inner city, which Senator Nash mentioned. We should be able to come up with a model for communities in which there are real difficulties around intimidation and criminal activity and where young people are getting involved in drugs at a very young age.

I will not oppose the motion by Fianna Fáil. I regret, however, that the leadership of the implementation of the national drugs strategy has been questioned. Nothing could be further from the truth in this regard. I work on a daily basis with people like the official with me and people in the drugs policy department. They work tirelessly in communicating with agencies and HSE community groups to implement the strategy.

I regret very deeply that nine former Ministers of State made a statement, which has been totally taken out of context and which is why this motion was tabled in this House and in the Dáil. I have known many of those Ministers of State for a long time, and I am deeply upset that they would join together without any notice to me as the sitting Minister of State and sign a petition or whatever. I understand there are concerns about the national drugs strategy and in communities, which I will address in the coming days and weeks. The leadership of the implementation of the national drugs strategy will not be questioned by anybody, and I mean that sincerely. I am a deeply passionate about the job I do, particularly the emphasis on young people and drug addiction.

One of the Senators said that none of us knows when it might knock on our own door. Senators and Deputies, who represent their communities, know that we must tackle this from the very beginning, from when the child is born. A woman arriving in the Coombe hospital expecting a baby may be afraid her baby may be taken from her because she has a drug addiction. We have to stop that. We are doing that through the introduction of drug and alcohol midwives in maternity hospitals where we will catch those young women at the very beginning when they are giving birth when we can help them.

We all own this; this is not my strategy. This belongs to all of us, whether we are in a party or not. We need to educate and raise awareness in our communities that drugs kill people. As Senator Nash and others said, not only do drugs kill people, they bring criminal activity into communities that people have never seen, where people are shot on their doorsteps and people are intimidated. I grew up in a parish where young people were taken up lanes and beaten up. We have to get away from that kind of society and we owe it to all the people who are living in communities that are poorer. I use the word "poorer" because I do not agree with the word "deprived". Many people come from poorer communities but they are not deprived. I am sorry for lingering on that theme.

I understand the concerns that have been raised. I will address them over the coming months and weeks. I thank Senators for their contributions because this strategy can only work if we work together, and that means right across the board.