Results 681-700 of 1,122,524 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Michael McNamara OR speaker:Maurice Quinlivan OR speaker:James O'Connor OR speaker:Patrick O'Donovan OR speaker:Denis Naughten OR speaker:Emer Higgins OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív OR speaker:Simon Harris OR speaker:Pearse Doherty OR speaker:Matt Carthy OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív67 OR speaker:Cathal Crowe OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív46 OR speaker:Dara Calleary OR speaker:Duncan Smith OR speaker:Louise O'Reilly OR speaker:Frank Feighan OR speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh OR speaker:Dessie Ellis OR speaker:Pat Buckley OR speaker:Joe McHugh OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív61 OR speaker:Jim O'Callaghan OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív1 OR speaker:Brian Leddin OR speaker:Colm Brophy OR speaker:Ossian Smyth OR speaker:Niall Collins OR speaker:Pádraig O'Sullivan OR speaker:Neasa Hourigan OR speaker:Thomas Byrne) in 'Committee meetings'

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: I will return to the question of the inspection of services. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Health, where we talk a lot about the inspection side of things in the context of oversight, performance indicators and outcomes. Who would do that? Perhaps that is not fair. What kind of a body could the witnesses imagine undertaking that piece of work?

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Could Dr. Kelly give me an idea of the breadth and level of that service? Would it include all the third-party and NGO services?

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Would it influence how drug task forces work?

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: It is crazy.

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: By proxy, there would be a benchmark that you could fall below and therefore-----

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: I have a question about data which struck me when talking about the prisons. I was reading something about it. Do we have the data about how many persons are eligible for OST or who would be appropriate for OST? Not somebody who has tried a drug once, but somebody who would benefit from OST. How many are actually in treatment? One statistic I read stated 35% of people who should be in...

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Yes, of course. To be honest, my question was not just what the number is but whether we are recording the data. When I ask a question about health, I am often told it is not recorded. As a result, I was wondering whether we have a sense of the data.

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Why is that?

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: Dr. Kelly mentioned counselling in prisons and that there were six counsellors. Did he say there are now none?

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: Is that because funding was withdrawn, it was not possible to recruit or the programme ended?

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: It is pretty stark. I visited the prison in Limerick a few years ago. Eight people were crossing the yard when I was crossing to visit someone. Of those eight, seven should not have been in prison because the issue was just drugs. I grew up with most of them. It is insane.

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: I thank the witnesses for the presentation. Mr. Kelly spoke about one of the projects in Limerick. There are two projects ongoing at present. The law engagement and assisted recovery, LEAR, project has been in place for a couple of years. Under LEAR, the Garda can refer people to Ana Liffey. It is working really well and I commend the gardaí and the staff of Ana Liffey who are...

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: We have a progressive, forward-thinking and common-sense approach. Chief Superintendent Derek Smart is excellent at his job and inspires confidence. While we are dealing with people with addiction, we need to look at organised crime gangs which, unfortunately, operate in my city. They have a stranglehold in parts of the city. Crack cocaine did not just appear in Limerick. As I have said...

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: My time is nearly up and I have to go to another meeting. The interventions the Garda has done in Limerick recently, in particular, in the Ballinacurra-Weston area, have probably prevented deaths by not having a gang war break out, probably between certain factions of the same group. The Garda has done that already in the St. Mary's Park area. That was fantastic work. There is still a...

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: I welcome the witnesses. I congratulate Mr. Kelly on his new appointment. We might stick with that matter for a moment. I often ask a question about data and not just data but its relevance. As somebody knocking on doors at the moment, I do not disagree that people feel we need another 1,000 officers or so. I imagine we also need ICT resources. It is not just about data, which is a...

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Mr. Kelly is describing highly specialised work. I imagine for practical reasons that much of that is centralised. What is the experience of the average garda dealing with it on the street? How does that work? Do they feed into those systems?

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Then, there is the more national service. Do I have time for one more question, Chair?

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: I am trying to get a sense of what that international piece looks like in a practical way. Mr. Kelly spoke about linking up with international counterparts. When I did some reading for today, many of the stories that came up about Irish drug gangs were in The New York Times or on BBC News. We have graduated to a new era. How does that work? How often do they meet? What bodies does the...

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Is it that when something happens, the Garda contacts Interpol and Europol or do they meet quarterly?

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: On the ground.