Trevor Sargent
Question:39 Mr. Sargent asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the progress of the Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion and Drugs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1696/99]
Written Answers. - Committee on Social Inclusion and Drugs.
On assuming office, the Government, recognising the links between social exclusion, drug abuse and alienation, decided that the most strategic way to tackle the problem of social exclusion was to re-constitute the Cabinet Committee on Drugs into a wider Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion, which would address disadvantage in the broadest sense. I presume that the Deputy is seeking a report on progress in relation to the committee's work in responding to the drug problem.
Following a recent independent evaluation of the drugs initiative, the Cabinet committee has agreed, in principle, to the continuation of the local drugs task forces in the medium term, on the basis of an appropriate framework being put in place which would enable the initiative to be measured in terms of outcomes and impacts in due course. The evaluator, in finding that a number of significant successes had been achieved in the relatively short time since they were established, had recommended that the local drugs task forces should continue for a further two years, to see if the encouraging progress made to date can be translated into longer term, quantifiable and sustainable benefits on the ground.
I am currently preparing detailed proposals on the future operation of the task forces – in the light of the findings and recommendations of the evaluator – and I will submit these to the Cabinet committee for consideration at an early date.
In the meantime, the task forces are continuing to implement their action plans, which contain nearly 230 separate measures under the themes of education, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and reducing local supply and for which the Government has allocated £10 million funding.
Under a separate, complementary initiative, the Government last year set up a Young People's Facilities and Services Fund. The purpose of the fund is to develop youth facilities, including sport and recreational facilities, and services in disadvantaged areas where a significant drug problem exists or has the potential to develop, with a view to attracting young people in those areas – at risk of becoming involved in drugs – into more healthy and productive pursuits.
Of the Exchequer contribution of £30 million committed to the fund over the period 1998-2000, to support a variety of capital and non-capital projects, £20 million is being targeted at the local drugs task force areas, details of which I have already supplied in response to Deputy Mitchell in Question No. 841 of 27 January 1999. Development groups – comprising representatives from the task forces, local authorities and vocational education committees – were set up in these areas and they have prepared integrated facilities and services plans. These plans are currently being assessed by an inter-agency committee, chaired by my Department, with a view to making recommendations to the Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion in the near future, regarding funding to implement them.