I want to raise the issue of growing pressure on addiction treatment centres across Ireland because what I am seeing on the ground is very worrying. The men's centre in Tiglin has a waiting list of over 80 men. That is 80 people who have put up their hand to say that they want help. Right now, we do not have a place for them. We also do a lot of interagency work and there are no places for 80 people.

The truth is that when a person in addiction puts up his or her hand there is a very narrow window of opportunity to provide help. If we do not meet them at that moment then there is a risk they will be lost to the chaos from which they are trying to escape. I have spoken a lot about recovery in this House. Recovery does not start in rehab but with access, and that is access to detox beds, rehab placement and all of the supported housing initiatives afterwards. Far too often people do the hard work, complete the programme and try to rebuild but chaos ensues when they are sent straight back to the very place where they got ill and they end up relapsing. It is not a failure by the individual but a failure by the rehabilitation system. We need to close the loop where detox ends up with rehab with no gap in between. If people do not find the proper pathway, from detox to rehab to supported housing, then we are not solving addiction but, rather, simply managing it. From what I have seen, we will pay for that in the long run and in the cost of human lives.

I ask the Leader to bring this issue to the attention of the Minister and ask what is the plan to expand the detox capacity, increase the availability of rehab beds and ensure that there is supported housing, with joined-up thinking, for people in recovery. Right now there is demand but the system is not meeting the people where they are at and it is becoming something that we need to urgently fix. Every person on that waiting list is a life that is in the balance yet they are simply being asked to join a queue and wait.