Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for attending. I compliment her on her new role and wish her all the best. I know how passionate she is about this subject and about finding solutions. I look forward to working with her. My experience with drug and alcohol treatment goes back to when I was part of the mid-west drugs task force, where I served for ten years. Many treatment centres and people doing different things came out of that, which formed support both for the people in addiction and their families. I wish to highlight some of the centres that are there, such as the Ana Liffey Drug Project, Cuan Mhuire, the community substance-based team run by the HSE, and the Coolmine project, which operates both in Dublin and Limerick. One such centre with which I am involved is the Saoirse Addiction Treatment Centre.Senator McCarthy referred to the use of alcohol along with drugs. Last year, we saw over 500 people in Saoirse, many of whom had a dual diagnosis in that they had both drug and alcohol issues. This issue needs to be looked at.

There is also a whole piece around education because we need to get across to people at a young age the harmful side-effects of drugs. I compliment the Garda and those who patrol Irish waters on their work. In the past two weeks, there have been significant drugs hauls. Using various resources, the Garda was able to take possession of the drugs.

With funding from the mid-west drugs task and the sports partnership, an app called Supporting Positive Outcomes in Recovery Together, SPORT, is now running in Limerick. It involves Limerick Sports Partnership working with the different treatment and addiction services. The app gives people exercises to do. It provides education, people are shown the harmful effects and it also supports people coming out of recovery. The biggest issue is that when people do come out of recovery they and their families are supported because it does have a knock-on effect on their families.

The needle exchange programme is really important, as is educating people on the harms and side-effects of drugs. From having visited the Coolmine houses in Dublin and Limerick, I know the wonderful work it does and how the people who are there become mentors in the houses for the people who are in treatment, and the success stories that have come out of Coolmine. Sometimes these centres do not sell their success stories. It is frightening to think that people in all age groups, from the young to the not-so-young, are still injecting or taking drugs. I understand cocaine use is among the highest. That is frightening because cocaine can be of good or poor quality and it can have different side-effects on people.

When the Minister of State comes to Limerick, I invite her to visit one or two of these centres because some of the programmes run in these centres would be beneficial to her with regard to her new strategy. I think it was Senator Fitzpatrick who said the strategy is coming to an end, and the Minister of State has the chance to put her own stamp on the next one. Some of the learning outcomes from what the centres are finding on the ground may be useful to the Minister of State in her work-----