Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank our witnesses for their opening statements. It was very interesting to listen to them. I am from Clondalkin and over the past few years, we have been lucky enough to have some very progressive community gardaí, particularly with regard to people in the throes of addiction. They see these people as people and not as a burden on society. Once that relationship changed, we could see the difference it made in the community. Both Garda members I am thinking of are so progressive that they are no longer gardaí and are working in the addiction sector. They went off their own backs and studied addiction to give themselves an insight into the problems they were seeing in the area on a daily basis. What training do Garda members get and what training should they get when it comes to addiction and people experiencing trauma?