Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairperson. I thank the Minister of State for being here. I am sure we will see a lot of each other over the next four years. I know she is aware this is an issue and an area I have focused on throughout not only my legislative career but also by working in addiction services since the age of 17. When I am not in the Chamber, I am still very much involved with community projects. I still have friends and family who rely on drugs services. A lot of my peers and colleagues also work in the services. The general feeling at the moment is confusion in relation to the national drugs strategy and the steps that have been, and are being, taken in not only the evaluation of the drugs strategy we are just coming out of but also the consultation process for the development of the new drugs strategy. The general feedback from some services is the national oversight committee has been brought in potentially for some departmental consultation regarding the drug strategy.

The feeling, though, is that is very much a top-tier conversation. In the past, we did have to work hard - maybe two or three strategies ago - to ensure that community as a pillar remained in the text of the drugs strategy. We have had to hold on to this element very strongly. In relation, then, to engagement on the consultation process, to have it only with the implementation groups or the national oversight committee would mean the general population of the community and voluntary sector would not get to engage with Grant Thornton in this regard. We want to know if that conversation was the consultation and if it is complete, or if there is going to be a wider consultation where community development projects and drugs services can invite in their members to be part of the consultation.

Going to the evaluation aspect, is potentially under way with Grant Thornton. I do not know if Grant Thornton is doing the consultation - that is one question - or if the company is just doing the evaluation of the last strategy. They seem to have come in reverse a little bit. We are not sure if what has happened with the Department is being said to be the consultation and there will be no wider consultation, and then the evaluation will come after. In the past, there was the evaluation that allowed for consideration of where we are at in regard to the previous drugs strategy and then a steering group and independent chair were put in place. I think, last time, his name was John Carr. That worked really well because we had that independent aspect of the evaluation of the drugs strategy.

Another question, then is: who is overseeing the evaluation? Is there a steering group? Is there an independent chair? Will there be a wider consultation process with the wider community and voluntary sector to ensure we have as representative a sample as we can across the country concerning the drugs strategy. We know drugs strategies will be more successful if the people who are supposed to feed into them feed into them. They will also want to carry the strategy forward because they will be able to see that their voices have been heard within it.

The other question I have concerns with is the citizens' assembly. We have had it and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Drugs Use. There was word that, potentially, the submissions to the citizens' assembly were going to be used as part of the consultation for the national drugs strategy. This seems like an odd step to take, so I just want to clarify if this is the case. I ask this because it was the role of the citizens' assembly to evaluate those 800 submissions and following that evaluation, it came up with its report. If anything, it is that report of the citizens' assembly that should have formed some sort of part of the consultation, rather than going back a step to the 800 submissions from the wider public to the citizens' assembly. Is it the final report of the citizens' assembly and the work of the Oireachtas joint committee that will be looked at to form part of the consultation with the wider community and voluntary sector?