I am sure all the boys and girls from Newtownmountkennedy celebrated St. Patrick's Day this week. I hope they had a great time.

Last week I attended two Irish events in London and I commend Bord Bia, the Irish Embassy in the UK and Tesco Ireland on organising a fantastic showcase of Irish food producers. Tesco has its "Love Irish Food" partnership and is supporting small indigenous Irish producers to expand on the island of Ireland, into the UK and across Europe. It was fantastic to see Folláin, Silver Pail, Kerrygold and other brands. The quality of the produce is spectacular and it is interesting to see how the partnership allows very small producers to expand on an international scale. Well done to everybody involved and to the Irish Embassy for its support.

I am Leas-Chathaoirleach of the Oireachtas drugs committee, which is working away and due to report before the summer with recommendations to Government on drugs policies. Parallel to that, the Department and the Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O'Connor, have launched a new draft drugs strategy. I commend the Minister of State and Department on drafting it, consulting with the committee and launching it on public consultation. Since 26 February, it has been available to any member of the public to have a say. Drugs are in all our communities. After alcohol, cocaine has the highest consumption, but there are also opioids, benzos and synthetics. We all need to engage in this discussion. Representatives of UISCE, Family Addiction Recovery Ireland, Pavee Point and CityWide are holding a press event in Buswells Hotel today. If people have time to go over, I encourage them to do that. They will be before our committee later. It is important everybody has their say before 10 April. The objectives are to reduce harm, support recovery, limit damage and ensure we all have a healthier world to live in.