Departmental Strategies Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-05 ============================================================ Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (FF), Carlow-Kilkenny Senator Fitzpatrick has been so helpful and has worked extremely hard on the drugs committee. As she will know, the national drugs strategy is the centrepiece of the Government’s commitment to a health-led approach to drug use. It has been almost ten years since our last strategy was drafted, which is a long time. The drug situation has changed dramatically, as we all know and as the Senator said. This is about everywhere now, from rural Ireland to our cities. Drugs have reached every part of the country, and I am very mindful of that. We have new patterns of drug use, with increased use of cocaine - which the Senator spoke about - and newer synthetic substances. Drug use affects all communities across the country, regardless of whether they are rural, urban, wealthy or deprived. It is everywhere. This brings its own challenges. It is important that we rise to the challenge in this regard and ensure that everyone who needs services can access them, wherever they are in the country. This is something I am very particular about. Wherever you live, you should be able to access services. As the Senator knows, I established an expert steering group to oversee the drafting of the new strategy. This was supported by a reference group. On the reference group, there are people from front-line services, families and people with lived experience. It was important to me to have this. The representation of these groups was particularly important because we need to see families involved. I am very mindful that in the draft of the new drugs strategy, one of the things mentioned is how we encourage awareness, how we try to prevent drug use and how we work and communicate with families and support them. That was the really important thing for me. The strategy was also informed by the evaluation of the consultations with, as the Senator knows, stakeholders, trends in drug and harmful alcohol use and the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use, of which, of course, Senators are all very much aware. That played a huge part in this as well. As the Senator knows, I recently received a draft of the new strategy, and I know the Senator's committee has received it too. It sets out five strategic pillars which will be delivered through 30 actions over a two-year period. The draft strategy envisages a key role for the six HSE health regions to co-ordinate the planning, funding and delivery of HSE and community drug services. That is the first thing we did. We have the five pillars and we will work off them with the 30 actions. This is in order to address inequality in access to services between areas and to integrate services with primary care. It is important that service planning in the future is driven by equality of access. There should be no geographic or social barriers to accessing services. I am very mindful of that too. It is also important that peer-led and community-based services that reflect the lived experience of the local communities receive the support they need. To support this aim, the Department of Health has commissioned an audit of drug services. This is the start to it. The audit is examining the relationship between the demand for services and area-based deprivation, taking into account rural-urban and gender factors. I expect to receive the final report on this study shortly. The study, this audit of the drug services, is really important. It was the first thing I had requested with the Department. The remit of the HSE health regions will be supported by engagement with stakeholders, including our drug task forces and community-based services. I have decided that a process will be put in place whereby the Department of Health, the HSE health regions, drug task forces and all stakeholders will review existing structures with a view to strengthening stakeholder input into planning. It is a matter of all of us working together. It is important we enhance the integration of our community-based services within our primary care and involve people with lived and living experience. I expect this process to be finished by June 2026. I fully intend to ensure the continued role of drug task forces in the implementation of the national drugs strategy and, in particular, in the co-ordination of the planning, funding and delivery of drug services. Like the Senator said, the task forces play a huge role, and I can only compliment them. We have 24 task forces around the country, and the work they have done, as she said, from the beginning and in the communities has helped many families and helped people living with drugs or people in the service, so it is important we commend them and thank them for their work. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-05/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:35+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-05