Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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543. To ask the Minister for Health the status of programme for Government commitments (details supplied); if they have been completed; if not, the timeline on their progress; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48004/21]

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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The Government agreed to adopt a health-led approach to people who use drugs, following the publication of the report of the working group on alternative approaches to the possession of drugs for personal use, which was informed by 20,000 public responses. The Programme for Government endorses this approach as an important step in developing a public health-led approach to drug use.

The aim of the health diversion programme is to connect people who use drugs with health services and provide a pathway to recovery, thereby avoiding a criminal conviction. The programme will offer compassion, not punishment, to people who use drugs. Under the programme, An Garda Síochána will divert a person found in possession of drugs for personal use to the HSE for a health screening and brief intervention.

The Health Diversion Programme is aligned with the strategic priority in the EU Drugs Strategy 2021 – 2025 to provide alternatives to coercive sanctions for people who use drugs. The strategy proposes q stepping up efforts to mainstream and implement alternatives to coercive sanctions, for drug using offenders and for people arrested, charged with or convicted for drug-related offences or people found in possession of drugs for personal use. The strategy also outlines that more comprehensive and in-depth data and exchange of best practices between member States is needed in this area.

An implementation group chaired by the Department of Health is finalising plans for the commencement of the Health Diversion Programme. The group is currently considering legal advice from the Office of the Attorney General on the implementation of the Health Diversion Programme on an administrative basis. It is also considering the formal views of the Garda Commissioner. Certain legal, procedural and logistical issues need to be clarified before the rollout of the programme can commence. The Department of Health is consulting with the Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána on these issues.

As committed to in the Programme for Government, the programme will be reviewed after the first full year of implementation to ensure that it is meeting all of it aims and to make any necessary changes.

I look forward to the commencement of the Health Diversion Programme, which will demonstrate a health-led approach in how we deal with people who use drugs.