88. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Health to commit to setting out a written detailed response and implementation plan to each of the 161 recommendations of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Drugs Use policy reform. [52314/26]

Deputy Marie Sherlock: As the Minister of State knows, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Drugs Use published a report two weeks ago. It is a detailed report, with 161 detailed recommendations set out over 134 pages. I have to convey to the Minister of State the deep dismay and disappointment caused by her comments in response to the report some 24 hours after its publication.

Will the Department of Health issue a detailed response to each of the recommendations?

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor, Minister of State at the Department of Health: I thank the Deputy for highlighting this very important issue and the 161 recommendations. First, I thank the Joint Committee on Drug Use for its work. I welcomed the report and I am in agreement with many of its recommendations. As the Deputy will be aware, earlier this year I published a draft of the national drugs strategy. I delayed it because I wanted to work with the committee. Three things happened and this was why it was delayed, by the way. It was not that we went ahead and did the drugs strategy. I delayed it because of this. The three things were: first, public consultation to ensure everything could be shared; and, second, a stakeholder engagement process on the future shape of the structure under the HSE. As the Deputy knows, we have six health regions. We were very mindful in the new drugs strategy we involved every region. The third thing was the Joint Committee on Drugs Use. We waited until the Deputy’s committee had its recommendations, so we could work with it. That needs to be clarified.

The committee's report sets out its consideration of the 36 recommendations of Citizens' Assembly on Drug Use. The views of the committee will contribute to the development of an integrated and evidence-informed health-led response to drug use. I acknowledge the 161 recommendations made by the committee, several of which relate to the national drugs strategy. I have asked that these recommendations are taken into account in the finalisation of the strategy. I hope it will be finalised by 1 September.

It is important to say to the Deputy and the committee, which has done great work, that many of the 161 recommendations are relevant to several Departments, so it is not just my own one. They fall between different Departments. I requested that consideration is given to these by my Government colleagues. I am now working with my Government colleagues on these.

Deputy Marie Sherlock: I thank the Minister of State. That is certainly very welcome. I say genuinely to the Minister of State and the senior Minister in the Department that there is a real opportunity to show leadership and to prove their credentials by getting things done with regard to this particular issue. Our committee heard hundreds of hours of evidence from 82 witnesses since April last year. It was an incredibly extensive look at all the issues. The reality is that the Minister of State outright rejected our recommendation of decriminalisation. There was an apparent misrepresentation of what the citizens' assembly actually said and she conflated decriminalisation with legalisation.

Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor: No.

Deputy Marie Sherlock: That to me is wrong. The reality is the issues are way too serious for that. There were 343 drug-induced deaths in our country in 2022. That is the latest available data. Over 80% of those in our prisons have addiction. Look at our communities. We need to change how we do things on drugs. To be honest, the Minister of State rejecting one of the recommendations less than 24 hours after publication is frankly not good enough. It is a knee-jerk response and it is anti-evidence.

Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor: No.

I thank the Deputy again for her work on the drugs committee. The vast majority of the 161 recommendations will be in the new drugs strategy but one of the recommendations was on the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977. It falls under section 3. That legalises drugs. It is important we tell the people of the concern. The programme for Government reaffirms the Government’s commitment to a health-led approach to drug use and to divert those found in possession of drugs for personal use to health services. I, and the Minister for justice and the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, have agreed a health referral scheme, which will commence in September. The Minister and I, working with the Minister for justice, Deputy O’Callaghan, are looking at 1 September for the new drugs strategy and the new health referral scheme working together.

As the Deputy said, this is about the most vulnerable in our society. I have visited most services around the country. I see the affect drugs have on people and their families. It is so important that we get this right. I assure the Deputy that the Minister and I are 100% committed to this.

Deputy Marie Sherlock: A health referral and health diversion scheme was promised back in 2017, so we are almost ten years waiting for that. The reality is the Minister of State is fundamentally misunderstanding why we have recommended decriminalisation. It is not an end in itself. Depenalisation is to ensure that we breakdown the stigma and shame of addiction in this country. It is to ensure that people can access services and that we end the war on drugs that has not worked. The Minister of State can walk around her community or my community – it has not worked. If we are serious about a comprehensive health-led approach, and the citizens’ assembly was very clear on this, it means dissuasion, diversion and decriminalisation. It cannot be cherry-picking one or two out of the three. It is a fundamental disappointment that the Minister of State is just looking at some of the recommendations and not looking at them in the round. It is a whole-of-government approach. My appeal to both the Minister of State and the Minister is that they bring this to the Cabinet and the rest of the Ministers. The Taoiseach’s response that we have had a health scheme in place for the past number of years and that it is working does not cut the mustard. It is not working.

Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor: Again, I have to disagree with the Deputy on that. We had a total of 15,422 cases in treatment, so we are doing work and that message needs to get out there. I visit the services around the country. I know we need to do more. The Minister and I are very mindful that we always need to put more funding into services but there are services there. As I said, there are challenges too but we are providing services. This is about everyone working together and about a health referral scheme that will give people the option to look at that. We have nine SAOR HSE workers who have been appointed across the country who will be working with this. So much work is being done on this. While this particular recommendation was the focus, I went through most of the 161 recommendations with my Department. As I said, some of the recommendations relate to other Departments. There is work being done, we are working with the committee’s recommendations and we are working with other services. My Department, the Minister and I waited so we could work with everybody. We will not get everything but at least we are working on health referral scheme. That is the way it will be.