Teresa Costello (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for coming in. As we approach the final year of this strategy, it is essential that we reflect not only on progress made at national level but also on how the strategy is functioning on the ground in communities like Tallaght, where both the promise and the pressure of the strategy are visible every day. The current strategy rightly prioritises a public health approach to drug use and outlines five strategic goals, namely, prevention and early intervention, access to treatment and rehabilitation, harm reduction, supply reduction and supporting evidence-informed practice. This health-led, person-centred approach has strong public support and is backed by growing national and international evidence. Its key strength is its commitment to community-based delivery, recognising that local services are best placed to respond to local needs.

Tallaght exemplifies this. The Tallaght drugs and alcohol task force currently co-ordinates eight funded community-based projects as well as youth outreach and family support services. These organisations are implementing this strategy in full through prevention in education in schools and youth settings, community detox and harm reduction, family support, trauma recovery and peer-led recovery networks. Specialist outreach is also provided to at-risk groups such as women, young people and people using crack cocaine. Tallaght's work is aligned with national goals but the scale and complexity of local drug-related harm have grown substantially in recent years. Crack cocaine use is rising rapidly. Services are working with highly vulnerable individuals, many in acute distress with complex medical health needs and limited access to primary care. Only two services in Tallaght are currently equipped to work with crack users, both of which are at capacity.

Youth vulnerability is also rising. The Connect 4 Project is a street outreach project managed by South Dublin County Partnership and engaged with more than 500 young people in one year, many of whom were out of education and at risk of recruitment into the drug economy. Drug-related intimidation and violence is a growing concern, while the project employs an intimidation support worker funded under the DRIVE initiative, supporting individuals and families targeted for drug deaths and coercion.

These issues reflect national trends but they also show us where the strategy's implementation needs greater support, visibility and resourcing. The national strategy commits to equity of access, yet women in recovery face significant additional barriers, as documented by the mothers in addiction recovery rising report, which was produced in partnership with the Tallaght drugs and alcohol task force. Women spoke of a lack of childcare preventing access to services, stigma in parenting and recovery contexts and structural instability in housing and mental health supports. The current strategy must go further in supporting gender-specific and trauma-informed care, which must be reflected in the next iteration post 2025.

We also face a serious data gap. While the national drug treatment reporting system, NDTRS, captures structured treatment, it does not capture outreach, prevention, education or community safety work, all of which are core parts of what task forces deliver under the strategy. This undervalues the breadth of community responses and must be addressed in future monitoring frameworks. I have concerns about vulnerable people being housed but not being provided with the necessary wrap-around services, ending up in failed tenancies and houses being used for drug taking. Stronger State management is necessary, alongside dedicated case management, to ensure people can integrate properly after they are housed.

On sustainable funding, local services are operating on year-to-year allocations, with increasing complexity in compliance and accountability. This uncertainty weakens long-term planning and staff retention. As we look ahead to the strategy post 2025, we must affirm the role of local and regional drug and alcohol task forces as strategic partners and not just service conduits. They are embedded in their communities and deliver not only treatment but also prevention, family support, education and interagency co-ordination. They form the implementation infrastructure that gives life to national policy. They also offer a model for future health and community service delivery which is decentralised, person-centred, locally governed and accountable.

The national drugs strategy has given us a progressive health-led framework for action, but implementation is where it succeeds or fails. In Tallaght, services are doing everything asked of them while operating under pressure with rising demands and increasingly complex needs. The next strategy must consolidate, strengthen and scale what works. It must fund the front line, listen to community knowledge and be honest about what is needed to deliver real change. Ultimately, it is not about drug use; it is about public health, community safety and human dignity.