Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 22 Oct 1997

Vol. 482 No. 1

Written Answers. - Drugs Task Force.

John Bruton

Question:

37 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the drugs task forces, if any, which have to date submitted plans for assistance; if so, the nature of these plans; if all the task forces invited to submit plans have done so; if any or all of the plans have, to date, been approved; and the plans, if any, which have been rejected or sent back for further work. [16186/97]

Pat Rabbitte

Question:

42 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the progress, if any, made to date in implementing the first and second report of the ministerial task force on measures to reduce the demand for drugs; the timetable, if any, which has been agreed for the outstanding items recommended; the finance, if any, which will be allocated in 1998 for this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14858/97]

Minister for Tourism Sport and Recreation (Dr. McDaid)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 37 and 42 together.

In its two reports, the ministerial task force made a series of recommendations across a range of areas to tackle the problem of drugs demand.

Perhaps the most notable of these was the establishment of structures at national and local level to target for priority action the areas worst affected by the drugs scourge and co-ordinate the activities of the various agencies — both statutory and community based. An essential component of this strategy is to engage local communities in a real and meaningful way in the development and implementation of strategies to combat drug misuse in their areas.

As the Deputy will be aware, a Cabinet drugs committee, the national drugs strategy team and thirteen local drugs task forces were established on foot of recommendations in the first report of the ministerial task force.

The priority of this Government is not only to tackle the drugs problem, as manifested in the numbers of drugs misusers in need of treatment and rehabilitation, but also to address the underlying causes of the problem. In pursuance of this strategy, we have decided to reconstitute the Cabinet drugs committee into a wider Cabinet committee on social inclusion and drugs (including local development), to reflect the fact that drug abuse is a symptom of a wider problem of social and economic exclusion. This committee will pull together the various strategies to combat social exclusion (and resultant problems such as drug abuse) into a co-ordinated, targeted response.

The 13 local drugs task forces, which were established in Dublin and Cork, were mandated to prepare action plans to tackle the demand for drugs in their areas of operation and funding of £10 million was set aside to implement these plans. Funding is being allocated on the basis of the quality of the plans and the needs of individual task force areas, rather than on a strict geographic distribution.

To date, 12 task forces have submitted their plans, while the outstanding one is expected shortly. The Government, on the advice of the national drugs strategy team, has approved initial funding — totalling £4.89 million — to 11 task forces to enable them to implement the more straightforward elements of their plans.

When all the plans have been received and evaluated, the national drugs strategy team will be in a position to make recommendations to Government in relation to the final allocation of funding to implement each of the plans.

In evaluating the plans, the team is maintaining contact with the task forces regarding any proposals which require further development or clarification.

As provided in their terms of reference, the task forces have submitted plans which take an integrated approach towards tackling the problem of drugs demand in their areas. The plans, therefore, include proposals in relation to treatment, rehabilitation and education-prevention. The proposals which are being funded mainly related to the development and support of community based projects and their integration into a coherent anti-drugs strategy, which also incorporates the programmes and services currently provided or planned by the statutory agencies.

The Government is fully committed to the effort to reduce demand for drugs. Funding towards the development of the task forces and the ongoing implementation of their plans will be considered by the Government in the context of next year's Estimates.

In addition to the foregoing, there are, as I already mentioned, a range of recommendations in the two reports to tackle the drugs demand problem. These are being progressed by the Minister responsible for their implementation.