Vol. 536 No. 5
335 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation if he will expand and extend the local drug task forces to other areas of the country to include locations in Kilkenny city and county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14626/01]
A common theme in the consultations leading up to the publication of the national drugs strategy review was the need for the creation of a structure which has the capacity to reflect and respond to the drugs problem on a national basis. The local drugs task forces, LDTFs, are a specific response to the scale of the drugs problem, in particular disadvantaged urban areas.
Accordingly, in the context of the review, there was an examination of what structures might be appropriate to tackle drug misuse outside the LDTF areas. The result of this examination is the proposal in the new national drugs strategy that new regional drugs task forces, RDTFs, should be developed. These task forces would incorporate and expand the work of the current regional drug co-ordinating committees. Each RDTF would be responsible for putting in place a strategy specifically for their region and have a budget to develop and support the implementation of their action plans. It is planned to have the RDTFs in place by the end of the year.
