Misuse of Drugs
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-05
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Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (FF), Carlow-Kilkenny

In response to the Senator, I reiterate this is a start. It is a very serious issue. An allocation of €1.5 million has been made by the Department of Health for a three-year drug and alcohol prevention and education programme. First of all we must get the awareness and the education out there, get it to the families and get it to the people who are using it to show the dangers of that. This aims to strengthen the prevention and highlight the relative harm, especially for younger people. I have published the draft of the new drug strategy, which contains a renewed focus on the protection of people, children, families and communities on the harmful effects of drugs and alcohol. We know that the challenge of regulating the nitrous oxides cuts across multiple Departments and the existing law. It is a public health issue for my Department and the HSE. It is a public order issue for the Department of justice and for the Garda Síochána. I want to commend Revenue on its tackling of the illegal importation of nitrous oxide at our ports. It is also an environmental issue concerning hazardous waste disposals for the Department of the environment. It is now a trade and enterprise issue for the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. We have all our different Departments now and we all need to work together. As we work together we will get stronger because this actually falls within all our remits.
I want to thank the Senator for highlighting this really serious issue in her own area and I am sure it is in other areas too. I assure the Senator that we are working with other Departments too. I will meet the Minister for justice, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, shortly to do with this as well. I know all of us within the different Departments will meet on it. I thank both Senators for bringing up drug issues. It is really important. We need to make sure that we get the services and the information out. How we can deliver this is going to be vital.

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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