Results 741-760 of 1,050,065 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Róisín Shortall OR speaker:Neale Richmond OR speaker:Gino Kenny OR speaker:Jennifer Murnane O'Connor OR speaker:Frank Feighan OR speaker:Denise Mitchell OR speaker:Niall Collins)
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Róisín Shortall: The quarterly meetings are minuted and those minutes are available.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Róisín Shortall: Previously, the DPU dealt with the drugs issue and had direct contacts with drugs task forces. The problem now is that many other responsibilities are being placed on staff who previously had been solely concerned with the drugs issue. Is it the case that people within the HSE and the Department of Health are overstretched because additional responsibilities have been loaded onto them?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Róisín Shortall: Is there responsibility for other policy areas, for example, asylum seekers and social exclusion, under their remit?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Róisín Shortall: Does the Minister of State believe the strategy is working?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Róisín Shortall: So, there are more people looking for treatment now.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Róisín Shortall: That is why I asked whether the Minister of State thinks the strategy is working.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Róisín Shortall: I am talking about the structures within the Department.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Róisín Shortall: And not letting other Departments off the hook, too.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Gino Kenny: I want to drill down into the figures around the problematic use of drugs and those who are seeking treatment, although I am not sure the Department can give a breakdown of this. The figures are startling and they have increased by nearly 50% since 2017. Can the Department give a breakdown of the substances that people are seeking treatment for, in particular with regard to problematic...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Gino Kenny: There is a definite trend since 2017 in the context of those presenting with an addiction to cocaine and the decline in heroin use.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Gino Kenny: There appears to be roughly a 50% increase. Mr. Walsh spoke about prescribed drugs and polydrug use, could he identify a percentage out of that 50%?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Gino Kenny: Would it represent a higher percentage of that 50%?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Gino Kenny: Does the polydrug use involve prescribed drugs?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Gino Kenny: I think "leakage" is the term used.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Gino Kenny: I ask Mr. Walsh to send those figures on when he gets a chance. The Department is compiling the new national drugs strategy. Given the citizens' assembly's recommendations and the special committee on drug use, how effective will that strategy be in the context of the provision of amending legislation? The soundings thus far from Government are that it will not go near the misuse of...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Gino Kenny: There is definitely a shift in public opinion, as reflected in the citizens' assembly and the special committee, to the effect that we need to do something very different from what we have been doing for the past four or five years.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Gino Kenny: Yes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Gino Kenny: Nobody has ever said that. That needs to be debunked here and now. Nobody has ever said if we regulate a certain amount of drugs that the black market will suddenly disappear.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Gino Kenny: We can see that by being very wary, successive governments have completely failed on this issue. They do not have the stomach to really challenge the issues of social deprivation. Social circumstances determine why people take drugs in the first place and it is a very complex issue. Continuing to criminalise people for personal drug use simply does not work. The Government needs to look...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)
Gino Kenny: That is a progressive thing. It has taken forever to do it.