Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

I thank everyone for the good wishes. I am delighted to be here in my role as Minister of State, particularly as it relates to the new drugs strategy. I want to work with everyone here. I can see the passion Senators have, and I have it, too. Every day, I see families who have been affected by drugs. I have learned a lot more since becoming Minister of State. I am working with all of the different services. I am talking to families. I see the way they are affected. I also see the huge stigma that is attached to being someone who is a drugs user for them and their families. I see the need for a new drugs strategy and I know that we need to make changes.

I will try to respond to most people said, but if I do not manage to, I am delighted to meet them any time. I am here to listen, learn and work with the Department on where we can make changes. I will be meeting Senator Lynne Ruane tomorrow. I have arranged to meet her because I knew she could not be here today.

Senator Fitzpatrick raised the huge issue of awareness and the importance of a health-led approach. That is really what I am, namely, a Minister of State under the health-led approach. That is what I want to do. Senator Fitzpatrick also talked about DRIVE. DRIVE is an initiative we launched a few of weeks ago through the Department. It is about drugs and the drugs intimidation being experienced by families. There are families that are really frightened. We want to let them know we are helping them. We have supports. As a Government, we are committed to helping families.

Senator Costello raised the issue of education. She spoke about Tallaght. I am meeting the drugs task force network tomorrow. It does great work in Tallaght. I am mindful to meet everyone I can so that I can listen, because this is not just about Dublin, but about the whole country. We have to make sure that every part of Ireland is covered and that we have resources.

Another issue the Department and I are very mindful of is women and having supports in place to help women who need them.

The implementation of the Government's health diversion scheme came up during the debate. We are working on that. Where people are found in possession of drugs for personal use, they will be directed to health-led responses. We are also working with An Garda Síochána and the DPP. I hope we will have word soon about the way forward and how we can do that. It is a health-led approach, working with An Garda Síochána. We are working closely with the Minister for justice, Jim O'Callaghan, and his Department. It is important that we thank gardaí for the work they do. It is important.

HHC was also brought up during the debate. I am hopeful that we will make that a controlled drug within the next two to three weeks. One hundred and sixty-nine treatment cases were reported to the NDTRS where HHC was recorded as the main or additional problem drug. The majority of those treated for HHC were male and mostly 19 years of age. We are aware of that issue and it is another matter we are committed to.

As Minister of State, I can only say that there is a lot to do. I did not even bring up my script because I wanted to listen to Senators' concerns. I see how passionate they are. We need to make the changes. We need to deliver on services. We need to make sure there is awareness. We need to make sure there is no stigma. All of us together, we can do that. There will be challenges and there will be services that we need to see where we can get funding for them. The officials in the Department, like myself, want to do this right. We have to do this right. That is what I want to do.My ambition is that the next national drugs strategy will create a society where the reasons people use drugs are addressed, the harms associated with drugs are reduced and recovery from drug addiction is supported. That is what I want to do. I want to work with everybody.

As I said, my door is always open. I am a Minister of State who wants to work with everyone and learn because for me every day in my Department is a learning day. I am lucky to have great staff in the Department. It is important to me that we all work together to find solutions and services and make sure that no family or person who needs a service is unable to access it. That is one thing I am passionate about. I was delighted to be invited to the House to speak. I have worked with many Senators over the years and I am delighted to be here to speak to them. As I said, my door is always open.