An Cathaoirleach: Parliamentary privilege is considered to apply to the utterances of members participating online in a committee meeting when their participation is from within the parliamentary precincts. There can be no assurances with regard to participation online from outside the parliamentary precincts, and members should be mindful of this when they are contributing.

I welcome all the witnesses to the meeting. The committee has four modules and this one concerns the health-led approach. I welcome from the SAOL Project, Ms Paula Kearney, BRIO co-ordinator, and Mr. Gary Broderick, director; from Merchants Quay Ireland, Mr. Eddie Mullins, CEO, and Mr. Geoffrey Corcoran, head of operations and delivery; Dr. Sharon Lambert, school of applied psychology, University College Cork; Dr. Richard Healy, research and policy officer with AHEAD; and Dr. Barry Cullen, youth and community development worker. They are very welcome to this committee today.

Each member has seven minutes to make a contribution and ask questions. I will be strict in that regard. There will then be a second round of four minutes for each contributor. That is the timeframe.

I invite Ms Kearney to make her opening statement.

Ms Paula Kearney: I work at the SAOL Project in the north-east inner city in Dublin. SAOL is a project that works with women who use substances and are working towards positive change in their lives. We support women in that journey through change. We are a women’s rehabilitation project, and all of our programmes are designed with a gender lens on addiction. I am the team leader for the BRIO programme within SAOL. BRIO works with women who have the co-occurrence of substance use and criminality in their stories.

I want to tell the committee a story about one woman to give members a clear understanding of what life is like for women who use substances. I hope that through this story, we will have a shared understanding of what is needed to support women. I wish to introduce the committee to Davina, which is not her real name. Davina is a 35-year-old woman who is also a loving mother to her beautiful son and daughter. Davina grew up in a home where she experienced multiple forms of violence and abuse. Her father was an alcoholic who would regularly beat her mother while Davina watched in terror. He had also abused her from a very early age....

[Link to full debate on the Oireachtas website]

Link to recorded video of the session (begins at about 14 minutes)