Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

[Translation: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker.]

I just want to put on record my thanks to you for swapping our chairing duties so that I could speak on this very important issue today. I also thank Órlaithí and Alan for moving the motion and the amendment.

When we are talking about mental health and addiction, the whole issue of dual diagnosis comes up every single time. Like many others, I have worked with health and social care professionals, in hospital settings and within the community, who have said that they are frustrated and that they want to try to help people, but there is still a lack of understanding about what dual diagnosis is. Diane Dodds explained it by saying that someone comes forward for help and they are under the influence of drugs, alcohol or both, and trying to help someone in those circumstances needs specialism and proper training. One thing that everybody has in abundance is care and compassion, so that needs to be put on the record.

All Members who have spoken have raised the issue that drug dealers are death dealers. I do not care what organisation they were or are affiliated with: they are armed gangs who peddle misery and kill kids, and that is it. Sin é.

[Translation: That is it.]

That is what they do, and I do not think that anyone is under any other illusion about what they are, because that is what they do.

I had and have the privilege — I am sure that we all do — of working with a lot of really compassionate people who go above and beyond. For example, they go into Belfast city centre — you know: this out of sight, out of mind — and talk to addicts on the street. They try to work with their families. They give them food and clothes, and they also help them with benefits. I visited the People's Kitchen when this place was recently restored, and the families there would have broken your heart.

The NISRA report is very helpful, but for me, as someone living in one of the most deprived constituencies, I could almost — I am sure that we do — put together a list of things that people are going to be affected by: poverty, ill health, poor mental health, poor housing, poor educational outcomes and the rest. They are very resilient people and very proud people, but I have seen the journey that people have been on. Unfortunately, a lot of us have gone to wakes after family members have died because they "loved a wee drink" or because they "had a wee problem". Now people are saying that he or she "was an addict", and they are saying that because the rest of the community knows exactly what it means.

The other aspect — I would say that we all have experienced this — is that I have sat looking at really elderly constituents who are paying off debts to drug dealers on behalf of their grandkids. They are going to credit unions and going everywhere because they do not want their grandkids getting hurt. For me, that is an absolute disgrace, because the grandparents of the people who are coming to their doors know the grandparents whom they are squeezing. They all know each other's families and they really do not care, but we care, and that is the clear message that needs to go out today.

In preparation for today, I talked to someone who still considers themselves an addict, and they explained to me that, when they went to the Mater looking for help, they were seen as a nuisance. Somebody who was really sick was more deserving than them. They took the brave step of going to the Mater to get help, and they did eventually get it, but they got it from other addicts. They went to housing, and it was almost like, "You cannot get a house", and when that person did get a house or was offered temporary accommodation, drug-related problems were prevalent in that area, and, because they wanted to get clean, they could not go.