Vol. 531 No. 1
4 Mr. Quinn asked the Taoiseach the number of occasions on which the Cabinet Subcommittee on Social Inclusion and Drugs met in the year 2000; when the committee last met; when the committee is next scheduled to meet; and if he will make a statement on the progress of the committee to date. [1598/01]
5 Mr. Sargent asked the Taoiseach if he will make a statement on the progress to date of the Cabinet Subcommittee on Social Inclusion and Drugs. [3747/01]
6 Mr. Higgins (Dublin West) asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the meetings of the Cabinet Subcommittee on Social Inclusion and Drugs during 2000; and if he will make a statement on the progress of the committee to date. [3075/01]
7 Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the progress made by the Cabinet Subcommittee on Social Inclusion and Drugs. [4644/01]
8 Mr. Gregory asked the Taoiseach if he will make a statement on the progress to date of the Cabinet Subcommittee on Social Inclusion and Drugs. [4649/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 to 8, inclusive, together.
The Cabinet Subcommittee on Social Inclusion and Drugs met on ten occasions in 2000. The last meeting took place on Wednesday, 31 January 2001 and the next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, 28 February.
The Cabinet subcommittee continues to give political direction to the Government's social inclusion policies, including the national drugs strategy. The meetings provide an opportunity to review trends, assess progress in the relevant strategies and programmes and resolve any policy and organisational problems which may arise. A great deal of progress continues to be made on all aspects of the social inclusion agenda.
I am familiar with the Minister of State's work in this area as we share a constituency. Is he satisfied that the original resistance among residents groups to the provision of methadone treatment centres has been satisfactorily resolved in that treatment centres have been established? Are enough centres up and running to meet the estimated demand?
In 1997 there were 21 treatment centres and there are 60 at present. There is still some resistance in certain areas to methadone maintenance. However, there are no problems in areas where these centres have been opened. Crumlin is perhaps the best example of this. This time last year 60 to 70 people were on the waiting list in Crumlin. Two centres have been opened and currently the number on the waiting list is negligible.
I spoke to residents groups at a public meeting in the area and they stated that once the centres are up and running the fears which existed disappear. They also pointed out that the level of crime has reduced and people are very positive about the fact that the centres are working.
Many Members have encouraged other communities to accept these centres as they prove beneficial. However, unfortunately there are still problems in some areas which have the largest number of people on the waiting list.
In reply to a question last December, the Minister of State said there were no deadlines for the submission of plans by local drugs task forces. What is the up-to-date position? Is there a deadline for the submission of these plans?
There is evidence of hard drinking and binge drinking. Is the Minister of State working closely with the Minister for Health and Children on this issue? Where stands responsibility for taking decisive action on, for example, putting bar codes on cans so they can be traced to particular off-licences and whatever other measures are needed to deal with the access which young people have to drink? Is there a line between the Minister of State's responsibilities in this regard and those of the Minister for Health and Children, or are they working together?
Eleven plans have been received from Ballyfermot, Ballymun, canal communities, Clondalkin, Cork, Dublin 12, Dublin north east, Dún Laoghaire, Finglas/Cabra, north inner city and Tallaght. We are awaiting plans from Bray, Blanchardstown and the south inner city.
Initial funding has been allocated to Ballymun, Cork and Dublin 12. Three plans will go before the Cabinet subcommittee next week regarding Clondalkin, Dún Laoghaire and Finglas/Cabra. At least three other plans will go before next month's meeting regarding the canal communities, Dublin north east and Tallaght.
In the budget the Minister for Finance gave a special allocation of £10 million for capital projects for premises in the local drugs task force areas. We are finalising the location of 16 projects which we will present at the next Cabinet subcommittee meeting for further moneys for local drugs task forces. These projects are spread throughout the city.
I have had meetings with the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, as have our officials, to try and amalgamate the issue of alcohol abuse into the national drugs strategy. This issue regularly came up during the public consultation component of the review strategy. Alcohol will be part of the strategy.
We have not issued deadlines as we do not think people need them. Most local drugs task forces are seeking funding and are anxious to submit plans. All the plans will be submitted shortly. It must be borne in mind that some of this is initial funding. We gave £500,000 to Ballymun, £787,000 to Cork and £510,000 to Dublin 12. We are looking at other projects which have been submitted and will allocate further moneys.
(Dublin West): The Minister of State last answered questions on this issue on 10 October 2000. Does he agree that, although he said at the time that waiting lists were about to be eliminated, there is still a problem in that people have to wait for long periods to access treatment? Is he aware that in Blanchardstown, for example, which is one of the areas designated under the anti-drugs programme, many young people still cannot find places? Does he agree this is unsatisfactory?
Will the Minister of State report on the current situation regarding rehabilitation and after care? Does he recall that on the last occasion he stated that we are trying to move people on recovery through rehabilitation and counselling? The infrastructure has not been put in place. What definitive steps will be taken immediately so that people can move from methadone maintenance to rehabilitation counselling? That is not happening at present to any satisfactory degree.
As regards under 18 year olds, what is the Minister of State's proposal for such people who are addicted to heroin and who are lost in the system? There was one pilot programme. However, people under 18 years of age are not able to access the limited normal programmes which have been put in place. This is a serious problem. I want to know what is being done and what the Minister of State will do in that regard.
We are about to fund a project in Blanchardstown which I hope will address part of the problem.
(Dublin West): Which problem?
There were 1,372 people in treatment in 1995 and that figure had increased to more than 5,000 at the end of December last year. The numbers on the waiting list are almost the same. We must open more treatment centres or methadone maintenance clinics. Unfortunately, however, there is resistance in communities to such centres. The health board would open them more quickly if it did not meet such resistance. I am sure the Deputy has seen the resistance and the type of fear which is unfairly instilled in people. People are worried and their reactions are often seen at public meetings on the issue.
In the past year I allocated more than £1 million to aftercare programmes. This money has been allocated across task forces for specific aftercare projects. The independent assessment which was carried out shows that 40% of people went back to work. There is a greater emphasis in the new plans from the local drug task forces on the area the Deputy mentioned. That is a step in the right direction. The national drugs strategy team is positive about this development. The plans are aimed at funding rehabilitation and counselling projects in their own areas. It is difficult to assess that but we are making progress. A number of years ago people were looking for methadone maintenance services. The plans in the areas which got those services at an early stage are moving towards the area in which the Deputy and I want to see progress.
As regards treatment for people under 18 years of age, I concur with the Deputy that it is a problem. A number of people presented a proposal to me two weeks ago to set up a different type of strategy for underage treatment and rehabilitation. We are considering that. This area must be examined and it will be covered in the national drugs strategy.
When will the Cabinet subcommittee get its act together and sanction the necessary money for projects which have sought funding from the young people's facilities fund for community and sporting activities? This is the fourth occasion I have raised the proposal from the Cabra Drugs Task Force for a community and sports complex in John Paul Park in Cabra. This project is waiting over two years for the necessary funds to start building the centre. Dublin Corporation has provided the site and the local community has raised approximately £50,000, yet the project has been in stalemate for some time awaiting a decision. We mentioned deadlines. While there appears to be hundreds of millions of pounds available for national stadia, projects for local facilities seem to have been put on the long finger.
The Deputy should confine himself to questions.
Does the Minister of State agree that if we do not provide community and sporting facilities, we are wasting our time trying to divert young people from drugs, whether they are illegal drugs or underage people dealing with legal drugs, such as alcohol? I ask the Minister of State to take this issue seriously this time and to give us a response. Everything else is ready to go in that area which has been hard hit by drugs in the past. The local community and Dublin Corporation need sanction from the Cabinet subcommittee which we are told met on 11 occasions. However, it does not appear to be able to make many decisions which will be effective in combating drugs among young people if it cannot make a decision on a project such as this one.
I disagree with the Deputy that we are not able to make many decisions. We made many decisions in the past year. There are approximately seven to eight projects and the total funding is approximately £17 million. We are trying to get that funding for all those projects.
That is what the Minister of State told us the last time.
I know I told the Deputy that but it has been difficult to get that funding. However, we hope to have it resolved shortly.
Has funding not been allocated?
These projects have fallen between two stools. We are trying to get different Departments to come up with the funding.
Can the Minister of State give us a deadline? When is he likely to be able to announce the necessary money?
It is difficult to give an exact timescale. I assure the Deputy it is one of the issues I want to resolve in the next couple of months. I know the Deputy and other Members have raised it with me on a number of occasions both in the House and privately. We hope to have it resolved shortly.
Can the Minister of State give a specific date as to when the national drugs strategy review will be published? It was due at the end of January but I understand it will be some weeks before it is published. Is there a view in the Cabinet subcommittee that we need to start tackling the issue of recreational drugs, such as solvents, ecstasy and cannabis? The measures required to tackle this issue are different from those required to deal with hard-core drugs, such as heroin and cocaine. Is there a specific strategy in the new drugs strategy review to deal with recreational drugs on a nation-wide basis or will they be dealt with in the same way as hard-core drugs are dealt with in the capital city?
As regards underage drinking, perhaps the Minister of State could explain why the Government is stubbornly refusing to introduce a mandatory identification card scheme for young people. I cannot understand the objection of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to it, particularly when the voluntary identification card scheme is not working.
Is it the Minister of State's view that we need to change tack in relation to drug and rehabilitation services in the prison system? It is unbelievable that drugs seem to be freely available in our main prison and that inmates seem to be able to use them freely and to get them whenever they chose.
Has the Minister of State had discussions with the Minister responsible for housing? Is the Minister of State aware of the difficulties being caused in the communities worst affected by the fact that recovering drug abusers who are stable and trying to return to a normal life cannot gain access to housing? Is he also aware that this is one of the down sides of the policy operable for some considerable time for drug pushers, as distinct from drug abusers, who were driven out of communities in areas where this was turned into a political campaign? One of the down sides is that recovering drug abusers cannot gain access to accommodation in the worst affected areas.
(Dublin West): I wish to return briefly to the question of rehabilitation and after care. I understand an after care and rehabilitation programme has been drawn up for the Dublin region, but that it has not been put into effect. What is the problem? What is the reason for the delay in this matter which, as the Minister said in recent months, is absolutely critical?
The Deputy should be brief because Deputy Gregory wishes to contribute.
(Dublin West): The Minister said that FÁS, for example, has ring-fenced 1,000 places for recoverers. How many of these places are being taken up? What improvements will be made in the next two months on the key questions of waiting lists, adequate rehabilitation and after care to ensure all those under the age of 18 years in need of help will be provided for?
Will the Minister of State comment on the four seizures of crack cocaine late last year, the deadliest and most addictive of illegal drugs? Now is the time to put a strategy in place before the inevitable happens and crack cocaine arrives in a big way.
To answer the first question, it will be published in March. I agree that recreational drugs present a separate problem that extends throughout the country. While I welcome the recent report in which it is stated that it is decreasing, I would have to place a question mark beside it. That is one of the reasons the national advisory committee is examining the issue. One of the advantages of having such a committee is that the position can be examined to obtain hard data. While we receive many international reports, one wonders how accurate they are. Nonetheless, I welcome the report's findings on the decrease in the use of recreational drugs. It is time we conducted our own research to obtained hard facts on the extent of drug abuse within the country.
While the issue of recreational drugs is different, we will have to examine the idea of an educational campaign as well as getting parents and schools involved. There seems to be an impression that one can take recreational drugs without side effects, but that is not the case. According to anecdotal information, the heroin problem has stabilised and may be reducing. We have been informed that in some communities young people between the ages of 15 and 17 years who are abusing ecstasy – perhaps taking five or six tablets a night – are beginning to smoke heroin to come down off it. While it has not been proven, it is a matter about which we are concerned. Those working on the problem in one flat complex informed me recently that the young people concerned were not there when heroin and AIDS presented huge problems. As they never experienced heroin and its associated problems, they are unaware of the difficulties involved. That is a worrying trend and we will have to keep a close eye on it.
As regards under-age drinking, I intend to speak to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform about identity cards. It comes under his remit, not mine.
Deputy Rabbitte mentioned housing, a problem that has come about because of the success of some of the programmes which have been put in place. It will not be an easy one to resolve. The same problems will arise when somebody who is recovering from heroin abuse is put in. We are examining the issue. At a recent meeting regarding young people and heroin the question of rehousing people within flat complexes and housing estates was also covered.
Would some kind of sheltered housing or half-way house system be useful?
Yes. Many have said that there should be a half-way house system for those coming through the recovery process, a place to which they can go to recharge their batteries if they are feeling down. While many are working and earning money, they have nothing to do. They cannot go to the pub and do not want to hang around the friends with whom they got involved in drug abuse before. Where do they go? They find it extremely difficult. We have to ensure services are available to make sure they stay off drugs.
Deputy Higgins mentioned rehabilitation programmes, of which we have introduced a number. Speed-Pack was one such programme financed during the year. We also helped to finance the labour inclusion programme which was supported by IBEC and the ICTU. As FÁS has 1,000 places, many such programmes are only starting up. The local drugs task forces have drawn up plans for rehabilitation by returning people to the workforce and training them according to their personal needs and abilities. There is no magic wand, however, because the people concerned have encountered great difficulties in their lives. I hope, however, with a hands-on approach they can be returned to the workforce and a drug-free situation.
I have read the reports about crack cocaine, probably the most dangerous illegal drug. The problems it has caused in American inner cities are incredible. I intend to inquire about how extensive the problem is here. We have not received any feedback from local drug task force personnel about it being a problem.
Is it not too late when it is a problem? There have been four seizures by the Garda Síochána.
I have read that report and intend to take the matter up with the Garda Síochána to ascertain exactly how extensive the problem is. It is obvious there is a problem if there have been four seizures. While the problem of solvents abuse arose in a recent report also, it hardly featured in the review of the national drugs strategy. Over 20% of those questioned for the recent report said they had taken solvents, but we are not getting that information from our research.
