Nicole Ryan (Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister of State for being here today. There is no doubt that there is good work being done by a lot of people across the board. As we mark the end of the national drugs strategy, we are compelled to ask what has really changed, what progress have we made and, crucially, where have we failed. If this strategy is coming to a close, we owe it to the people affected, those in addiction, the families who are grieving and the workers on the ground to be honest about the state of play.

I will begin with some numbers. It varies year on year but over 300 people die from drug-related causes in Ireland every year. That is almost one a day depending on the year. Almost 20,000 people in Ireland are classed as problematic opioid users. In 2023 alone, there were nearly 5,000 cases treated for the use of cocaine, a substance now deeply rooted and embedded in our communities. Rural, urban, working-class, affluent - you name it - it is there and it is everywhere. In November 2023, 57 overdoses were recorded in just three days in Dublin due to nitazenes, synthetic opioids more powerful than fentanyl, with a similar alert issued in Cork shortly afterwards.

What has the financial response to this kind of crisis been? Last year, an additional €4 million was allocated on top of the budget for drug-related prevention services. Some €2 million of that was to expand community-based drug services, €1 million was to roll out alcohol treatment services and €500,000 was for a national drug prevention campaign. I want to talk about this because we recently had officials before the drugs committee who have not used that funding for a national campaign. The Minister of State would be well aware of HHC and the effects it has. I queried the officials on why they have not started the campaign because I do not know what they are waiting for. Are they waiting for somebody to die before they actually roll it out? We are halfway into 2025 and still we have not seen a campaign around that. There is also €500,000 for harm reduction initiatives. That gives €4 million as a top-up in total.

For a crisis that is killing hundreds, traumatising thousands and hollowing out entire communities, a single road upgrade project costs a whole lot more than that. The strategy talks about a health-led approach but where is the health-led infrastructure to back that up? Where is the detox and rehabilitation centre outside of Dublin? Where are the wraparound services for young people at risk of being groomed into the drug trade? Where is the investment in harm reduction and recovery, not just enforcement?

According to the 2024 Irish national drugs report, 44% of users report using three or more substances. Polydrug use is the norm in our society; it is not the exception any more. Cocaine is often used with alcohol and cannabis is used to manage anxiety, sleep and depression, yet the mental health services are siloed off from addiction care. Even among teenagers, 22% of boys and 14% of girls aged 15 to 17 say they have used cannabis in the last year. One third of drug users in a web survey reported using ketamine in the past year, a figure well above the European average. Meanwhile, our community projects, the people who do the real front-line work, are burning out. They are running out of short-term funding and dealing with ad hoc pilots and empty promises.

As the Minister of State knows, the European drugs report for this year stated plainly that we are dealing with increasingly potent drugs. They are rapidly shifting markets and the vulnerable are prey for violent networks, often recruiting children to social media to sell and deliver drugs. I am not coming from this from an abstract place. I am coming from the front line. I have been in drug and alcohol services. I have worked in homeless services and with the people on the front line. I have been delivering education for the last ten years in schools. I have worked with teenagers. This is not just me criticising but giving out lived and real experience for the people on the ground. We need to stop pretending that we are ahead of the curve; we are not. While the Government can make statements, communities are being left to fight this alone.

What we are calling for is a properly resourced national strategy, with ring-fenced and multi-annual funding. That is really crucial for people. Ad hoc services just do not work. They are not fair on people. We need a model of decriminalisation for personal use based on the recommendations of the citizens' assembly, so that we are moving such use out of the criminal system and looking at a health-led approach, where it actually belongs. We need rapid access to detox and rehab in most regions. It is obviously not going to happen overnight but we have been talking about a Cork injection centre for years and there is still no sign of that coming down the line for us. We need investment in trauma-informed community responses that recognise addiction is not just around drug use but is rooted in poverty, mental ill-health and generational trauma and harm that happens to people.

Equally, we need to look at what happens next because right now we do not have a clear timeline for the publication of the draft strategy. The Minister of State mentioned it would be at the end of this year, and that is great, but we asked this question in the drug committee and we did not have a timeline then. The stakeholders the committee members have previously met, from outreach workers to service providers, are deeply concerned about the lack of consultation. They are the people on the cold front of this crisis and their insights are not optional. They are essential to this. The lack of communication on a strategy process is alarming. Across both section 38 and 39 organisations, the core issues of funding, staffing and the ability to retain skilled workers - the pay in these places is abysmal - have been the same for decades.We are asking an addiction counsellor who is qualified and who has spent thousands to work at basic pay with absolutely no job security. That is ridiculous. It is no wonder that people do not stay in these jobs. Not only are they subjected to trauma themselves in taking on a lot of people, they are not even paid properly for it. The strategy should be progressing in tandem with the work of the Oireachtas Committee on Drugs Use, and if that is not happening, the draft strategy must take into account the final report from the group. That is a must. To date, the committee has met privately to scope and shape the work plan, but future meetings will need to invite a broad range of stakeholders, such as we have been talking about the past while, and that work should, in turn, inform the strategy. A clear timeline is not just helpful for us, it is actually essential for us.

This is not just about policy, it is about political will. Right now, the State is spending more money policing drug users than helping them recover. It is easier to cut a ribbon than to fund a clinic. It is easier to talk about a strategy than actually put your shoulder to the wheel. Real leadership means facing the reality that we have failed to address the drugs crisis with the urgency it demands . We have heard it here about these people. It is everywhere. We all know people and families who are struggling with this. The next strategy cannot be a document full of ambition but empty of action. It must be brave. It has to be funded, community rooted and unapologetic about being health led. If we do not change course we will keep burying people and their blood would be on the hands of a State that knew and yet did too little.