Vol. 489 No. 6
782 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will give favourable consideration to an application for funding from Urrús, Ashley House, Swords Road, Dublin 9, who provide an invaluable service in community addiction studies training to many Dublin communities who are endeavouring to combat the drugs problem; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9447/98]
The primary focus of my Department is to support development of educational programmes in schools and in the various youth services for the prevention of substance misuse. These programmes will be subsumed in the development of social, personal and health education as part of the revised curricula at primary and second levels.
At present there is no provision for my Department to fund other support services such as those provided by Urrús, although it would be open to them to apply to the in-career development unit of my Department for support for training offered to teachers. The whole area of substance misuse prevention initiatives is one which is kept under review in the context of the National Drugs Strategy and within my own Department.
