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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 5 Feb 2015

Vol. 866 No. 3

Topical Issue Debate

Library Services Funding

I wish to raise the issue of funding for public libraries. An article in one of my local newspapers, the Tuam Herald, reported that County Galway only spends 20 cent per person on library books. It spent very little on library books compared to other counties but it has a good track record in providing libraries, with 29 branch libraries in the county alongside a mobile service. Galway is the second largest county in the country and more than 500,000 people visited branch libraries there last year. There is great interest in the library service but in light of these disappointing figures, we should be spending more on books. Last year alone, Tuam library recorded close to 50,000 reader visits and figures obtained by the Tuam Herald indicate that more than 80,000 books were lent by the Tuam branch in 2014. Investment in our library services should be given priority, particularly in light of the importance the Government attaches to literacy and numeracy schemes. Libraries also play a social role in that people can use their computer and Internet facilities. Microfilm is also a popular library resource. I understand that approximately 39,000 members are availing of these services. I should use this opportunity to note that some people forget to return books. I am sure the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Coffey, would agree that people who borrow books should return them.

In the Seanad recently, my colleague, Senator MacSharry, raised the issue of funding cuts in Sligo County Council and the news that Ballymote library is due to close because of these cutbacks. I am sure similar issues arise in every county, although the Minister of State will be glad to know that Waterford is doing very well in terms of spending per person. Funding for Waterford is approximately €3.26 per person, compared to 20 cent in Galway. The average figure for the country is €1.48. It appears, therefore, that certain areas are not receiving adequate funding. Galway and Sligo are two such examples. The question arises of which will be the next library to close if the cutbacks continue.

The school library service, which is funded through the Department of Education and Skills, also needs more resources in order to purchase new books. If it cannot replace its stock of books every so often, younger students will not develop a strong interest in reading.

I thank Deputy Kitt for raising this issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, and for providing me with an opportunity to set out the position on funding for the public library services. I would like to state at the outset my own personal commitment to the library service and to library facilities, which make a real difference to communities across the country by offering them the opportunity to learn, read and enjoy a range of material.

The total local authority budget in respect of libraries in 2014 was €143.4 million and funding allocations in respect of libraries in 2015 will see funding of the same order provided to this valuable service. In addition to this funding, my own Department directly provided capital grant aid for libraries totalling €1 million and current expenditure of €1.2 million in 2014 to the service. The capital grant aid allocation for 2015 is €1.5 million, with an allocation of €900,000 for current expenditure.

My Department and the local authorities are committed to the implementation of an ambitious programme for the development of the public library service. This is demonstrated in the public library strategy, Opportunities for All, which sets out a five year strategy for the future of the public library service in Ireland and provides a framework for the development of the public library service in Ireland from 2013 to 2017. In line with national and local government policy, the strategy provides innovative measures to manage existing resources more efficiently in order to continue to develop and deliver a library service which meets the information, learning and cultural needs of individuals and communities and, in so doing, contributes to economic recovery and social and cultural improvement. It also contains a strong commitment to a programme for the development of services to individual users and communities in the public library service which will improve the already high quality of the service.

To further enhance the service, my Department has also requested local authorities to implement new library structures and other provisions recommended in the report, Managing the Delivery of Effective Library Services, in line with Government policy. The objective is to establish stronger, more effective and efficient public libraries and deliver better library services to local communities and citizens.

A shared structure is essential to allow smaller library services to reach the capacity required to deliver the necessary improvements. We are continuing to build on the progress achieved in the library service in recent years with the opening of 145 new state-of-the-art libraries throughout the country and a substantial refurbishment programme for existing libraries. During 2014 seven new or extended libraries opened across a number of local authority areas, including counties Dublin, Limerick, Louth, Longford and Mayo. In 2015 the Lexicon Library in Dún Laoghaire has already opened and an additional six new or extended libraries are planned to open, including services in counties Galway, Wicklow, Waterford, Cork and Laois. It is clear from the ongoing investment that there is a continuing commitment to the public library service. I look forward to the opening of each of these libraries and the continued development of library services across Ireland in the coming years. They are of obvious benefit to young and old in communities across the country.

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I am glad to hear the programme will continue and that Galway is included in the list of new and extended libraries. We have had some very good developments in the past. Students, in particular, use libraries, as do retired people and, without wishing to categorise anyone, those who are unemployed and people with disabilities. There are very good facilities in place. I repeat, however, the point about school libraries. It is a different and separately funded service, but it must be promoted in the context of the Government's proposal, with which we all agree, on literacy and numeracy.

The most famous public library of all is perhaps the National Library of Ireland, which magnificent facility and building successive Governments have failed adequately to fund. The acting director has said there was a cutback in 2014 of 42% on the figure for the previous year, while I note that there has been an increase in visitor numbers of 85% since 2009. The National Library of Ireland is very important in terms of tourism and for Irish residents and if we have continual cutbacks, the results will be very serious. Some of the €2 million provided by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Heather Humphreys, went to the National Library of Ireland, which was only right.

Let us ensure we do not cut back on libraries. Certainly, we should not cut back on staff numbers. We are a long way behind our neighbours in Scotland and Wales, in particular, on staffing and I would like to see the investment in libraries continue. We should look at counties with huge geographic areas that need mobile libraries and new investment. While there is, rightly, a great deal of funding in Dublin, given its huge population, we sometimes might forget about towns with huge rural hinterlands that do not have the same library facilities.

I reiterate the commitment of my Department and its Ministers to local authorities and the public library service, including its future development. A sum similar to the €143.4 million allocated for libraries in 2014 will be allocated in 2015 to a very valuable service. It is important that the service has a strategy in Opportunities for All. The strategy recognises the continuing need for this community service and space to be available in as many centres of population as is feasible. My Department and the local authorities that deliver the service are committed to the implementation of the strategy.

The Deputy will agree that a comprehensive, varied, well maintained and up-to-date library collection is at the heart of what the service offers the public. It is instrumental in supporting literacy, developing life skills and social cohesion and enabling lifelong learning. Before 2008, many local authorities had achieved a level of spend on library stock of €3.77 per capita or were very close to achieving it. Owing the downturn in the economy and a lack of available funding, it was not possible for local authorities to maintain the book funds at the pre-existing level. In recognition of the importance of restoring these funding levels, Opportunities for All again sets out a per capita stock fund target of €3.77 for each local authority. Local authorities and my Department are working to achieve this figure.

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. The library service is an essential and valuable one at the heart of rural and urban communities across the State. I reiterate the commitment to maintaining the sustainability and viability of the front-line library service and keeping the book stock up to date into the future.

Tax Exemptions

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Simon Harris, for being available to take this topic.

The proposal I am putting forward is related to the new Central Bank decision on mortgage rules. Clarity is welcome, although I am not sure why it took the bank so long to deliberate or why it went through the process at all. However, it is good that we now know what its proposals are. Of course, I am not entirely happy with the outcome, but perhaps I am not meant to be. It is incredibly unfair on people who are looking to move into their second home which may be their first family home. They are going to be penalised. While they may have thought that they had saved enough to buy a home, the figure has now doubled. The tiering is welcome in terms of the clear distinction between first-time buyers and those who are buying to let. Using the percentages to address it is a smart move, but the value at which people in Dublin will step from 10% to 20% in the loan-to-value ratio is too low. Nevertheless, we have a decision and must work with it. That is why I am putting the following proposal to the Minister of State.

The Central Bank has made its decision on loan-to-value ratios and it is up to us now to act on the supply side. If we do not, people who are renting in Dublin will find themselves as collateral damage in the moves by the Central Bank and the property market. We must see how we can help to free up supply. I appreciate that the Government is working on a number of strategies in relation to building and investment. Dublin City Council will begin this year the next phase of the Dublin city development plan in which it will be able to look at densities, height ratios and transport infrastructure. They will all play a part in increasing the supply of housing. We as legislators and those in the Department, where the skills set is, can also think of ways to use the taxation system to incentivise people to move home by changing their attitudes to the properties in which they live.

There is a great deal of underoccupied housing stock in Dublin. This issue is being considered in the United Kingdom where it is estimated that 47% of homes in England and Wales are underoccupied. We have a problem with underoccupation in Ireland also. The question is what we can do about it. One measure we could pursue is one that is being promoted by the Mayor of London, Mr. Boris Johnson. It is the introduction of a capital gains tax exemption or reduction for people over a certain age - perhaps 65 years - who downsize their properties. It has the potential to free up family homes, of which there is a shortage at suitable prices in Dublin. We have known about this problem for quite some time. Where one finds a lack of supply of suitable accommodation at the right price and an underoccuption of dwellings, this proposal has the potential to have a very positive impact.

In Dublin there is a great deal of potential housing stock that is not being used appropriately. I hear the same anecdotally about other towns. When one walks through the city and looks above the ground floors of buildings with a retail purpose, one sees boxes against windows. People are using for storage or other purposes accommodation which could be used much more appropriately for housing. This all builds into the idea of a cultural change in how we think about renting versus owning and about where we live and why we live there. I note that this is not for everyone and that it is not about forcing people to do anything. It is a way to incentivise a change of behaviour and attitude.

I will set out the benefits. If the seller is over 65 years, having raised his or her children who are living in their own homes, and wants to downsize, a capital gains tax exemption or reduction would have the potential to permit him or her to keep a further one third of the sale price. It would be a huge incentive to sell, as well as constituting extra protection for someone in his or her old age in addition to his or her pension. There would be a benefit for the housing stock where it was an underoccupied home. A person might be selling a four or five bedroom house near local schools and transport which would then be freed up for a family or other users to come in and use it in the best possible way.

It would also have a positive impact on rents and prices in the area, given that it would increase supply.

A further benefit would be that the resulting increase in demand for apartment spaces would motivate us to examine how we are using the buildings in the city centre and urban villages that are not being used properly above the ground floor. This is how the benefit would have a wider impact on how we view property across society. While it might have to be paired with other incentives, such as redevelopment incentives for such properties, this simple tax incentive alone, without having to build anything new, could be a very efficient way of freeing up housing stock for families who need it and ensuring those who want to move are not penalised for doing so because our CGT tax of one third is so excessive.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. I note his comments on the Central Bank's decisions on mortgages. The Central Bank is independent and it, not the Government, has decided on these regulations. The Government accepts them. During the consultation period, the Central Bank took on the concerns of many people, including first-time buyers. The deposit required does not jump from 10% to 20% but increases on a sliding scale. A house priced at €440,000 requires a deposit of approximately 15% and a house must be priced at approximately €1 million to require a deposit of 18%.

The introduction of the Local Property Tax, LPT, is part of a broader approach to the taxation of property, which aims to replace some of the revenues from transaction based taxes, which have proved to be an unstable source of Government revenue, with an annual recurring property tax, which international experience has shown to be a stable source of funding. The Government decided that a liability to the LPT should apply to all owners of residential properties with a limited number of exemptions. This is consistent with the report of the inter-departmental group on the design of a local property tax, chaired by Dr. Don Thornhill, which concluded that a universal liability should apply to all owners of residential property with a limited number of exemptions. Even with the limited number of exemptions available under the legislation, I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that, based on the most recent data available, exemptions have been claimed in respect of some 36,000 properties for the 2014 LPT. Reliefs and exemptions have costs which must be paid for and their introduction must be considered only where there is a clear economic and social policy need to be addressed.

While there is no specific exemption from LPT for those over 65, they may be exempt or eligible for relief from LPT for another reason, or may be entitled to avail of a deferral arrangement under the provisions contained in the legislation. Limiting the exemptions available allows the rate to be kept low for those liable persons who do not qualify for an exemption. When people downsize their residential properties, assuming they stay in a similar location to the properties they are selling, their LPT liability will, most likely, be less than the amount they were liable for on their original property.

Capital gains tax, CGT, and stamp duties might also be regarded as property related taxes. A CGT exemption is already available for the sale of a person's principal private residence. The exemption applies to any gains made on the disposal of an individual's dwelling house together with land occupied up to an area of one acre, excluding the site of the house. Full CGT relief applies when the period of occupation matches the period of ownership and partial relief applies where the house has not been occupied by the individual for the full period of ownership. The beneficiary of a gift or inheritance in the form of a residence or dwelling house is exempt from capital acquisitions tax, subject to certain conditions this might be of particular relevance to elderly parents who gift their residence to a child who does not own residence in his or her own right.

While there is no stamp duty exemption in place, a rate of 1% on the purchase of a property would not represent a serious disincentive to a property owner considering trading down. In the circumstances, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, has no plans to introduce an exemption along the lines suggested by the Deputy. However, I will relay the Deputy's views to the Minister and I might come back to him regarding how we can best deal with supply in the Dublin area.

Under-occupancy of homes in Dublin must be addressed. We need to find ways to incentivise people who are living in large homes which they no longer need to trade down and free up the house for a family or a number of people to live in. Thus we could use the property we have in Dublin and our urban regions in the most efficient way. While I understand the Minister of State's points regarding LPT, I will not speak on them because I was not thinking of this area. The significance of a full CGT exemption for a person aged over 65 trading down a house in Dublin would be enormous, representing one third of the sale price. The money could be of real benefit to such a person in terms of his or her pension and securing a certain standard of living for the future, as well as the other benefits of downsizing, such as lower utility costs.

The Minister of State referred to acquisitions tax. Perhaps the Department of Finance could embark upon a bigger piece of work in examining some of our taxes and their thresholds and entry points. In view of the supply issues in Dublin and the spike in property prices, parents are passing away while living in a home and their children are having to sell the home because they cannot afford to pay the capital acquisitions tax on it. That is not right, given that they might be renting and want to move into the homes. It is an unnecessary and unfair pressure, given the time at which the tax is levied, which affects people in all parts of Dublin because of the threshold entry point. The last review of our taxation system was done in 2009. I have read parts of it and spoken to people who were involved in the process. It was written in order to come up with certain results and conclusions. Now that we are moving to a sustainable taxation model for the economy and we have broadened tax base, there is a good opportunity to reconsider what are appropriate taxes and entry points and, if there are exemptions, what they are and to whom they should apply.

The Deputy's point on thresholds and entry points is valid and deserves significant consideration. The Minister, Deputy Noonan, and I debated it in this Chamber during the Finance Bill debate and the Minister is keeping the issue under review. I will relay the Deputy's views to the Minister. The Deputy pointed out that there is already an incentive in the form of lower LPT on a smaller property for a person who downsizes as well as reduced running costs and energy costs. The nub of the issue is supply. Recently, I saw startling figures regarding the four Dublin local authorities. They stated that sufficient planning permission has already been granted, with no insurmountable infrastructural deficit, to deliver more than 20,000 housing units in the four Dublin local authority areas while a further 25,000 new homes are considered permissible on existing land zoned for residential use if the landowners and developers wished to seek those permissions. The challenge for the Government and my colleagues at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, is to unleash the potential. The Government's Construction 2020 strategy, along with the forthcoming Planning and Development (No. 1) Bill - which has been given priority and which will include revision of the Part 5 social housing obligations and the retrospective application of reduced development contributions - should, hopefully, result in an activation of the land that already has planning permission and is zoned and serviced. This could deliver up to 20,000 housing units in the four Dublin local authority areas.

Under the LPT legislation, the initial value of a property on 1 May 2013, assuming it was made in good faith, is valid until 31 October 2016. The next valuation date will be 1 November 2016. In advance of this, the Minister, Deputy Noonan has said a comprehensive review of the LPT and its impact on the liability due to increasing property prices will be undertaken. The review is under way, the Department is considering all pertinent matters and the Minister will report back to the Oireachtas well in advance of the next valuation date, 1 November 2016, to try to give certainty on this issue. Given that it is causing people significant concern, we would like to provide details on it.

Hospital Services

The issue relates specifically to the MRI scan service at our largest paediatric hospital, Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin.

It has an impressive record of care for children and continues to have that reputation nationally and beyond. The issue is the delay in the scanning service. I have had representations from parents about the increase in the backlog and staff at the hospital have also highlighted this issue recently. We all share concern about the lack of out of hour MRI services for emergency cases. Waiting times for scans for children have continued to climb despite the fact that the hospital, to its credit, has moved to provide a Saturday morning MRI service, for which I praise it.

Out of every 74 requests the hospital receives for scans only 42 per week are carried out. We have to find a way to resolve this. I appreciate that, as staff have said, scans are time consuming. They can take up to 45 minutes and children under the age of two years require sedation while those under seven have a general anaesthetic. The service in Crumlin is used for 35 hours a week. The hospital management has discussed this with the HSE. Despite the difficult times we are in, improving the health services is not always a question of providing money. There are customs and practices that deserve to be considered. It is a matter of improving this service and trying to move away from a situation where some children wait as long as 27 months for a scan. I hope that, with the cooperation of the Department of Health, the HSE and hospital management, it might be possible to improve the service.

My understanding was that this debate was about medical infrastructure in general. I am happy, however, to stick to the issue of the MRI in Crumlin, which is the Deputy’s major concern. By sheer coincidence I spent three hours in Crumlin today. I was there officially to turn the sod on the new hybrid cardiac catheterisation laboratory, Cath Lab, that is under construction but I took the opportunity to visit the intensive care unit, ICU, and the emergency department, to meet with the board, senior management and the senior medical and nursing staff and many others.

One of the issues we discussed was the delay for non-urgent MRIs. Urgent cases are prioritised. If an MRI is required in an emergency it is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in Temple Street Children’s Hospital which is the neurology centre. As the hospitals will be merged and brought together on one site they work together very well and patients are taken to Temple Street if they need an urgent MRI out of hours. The number of MRI scans has gone up from approximately 1,600 a year or two ago to 2,000. This is not a case of cutbacks but of rising demand. That is a feature of our health service. The hospital does do a list every second Saturday to try to deal with the delay.

There are two rate limiting factors. One, which the Deputy identified, is that the MRI scanner is used for only 37 hours a week. We would like that to move to an 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. service on weekdays at the very least. That is provided for in the Haddington Road agreement. It would require staff, overtime and so on. The board is working with the hospital group on a solution to extend the hours so more work can be done.

The second rate limiting factor relates to the need for anaesthetists because young children cannot stay still in the tunnel for long, they get very afraid because of the claustrophobic effect and the noise and need to be sedated or anaesthetised. There is a shortage of anaesthetists in Ireland as in most countries. It is difficult to recruit them. The hospital will be advertising for two additional anaesthesiologists very soon. I hope there will be applicants. Once those posts are in place the hospital can decide how best to use their time.

I thank the Minister for his interesting reply. Some argue that a simple solution to the problem would be to provide more equipment but of course that is extremely expensive. It costs, I think, over €1 million. In these times we will not see too many additional scanners. I am encouraged by what the Minister said about moving on to utilise the service and expanding it. I did not realise we had a shortage of anaesthetists. I would be curious to know why – I am sure the Minister has an answer.

I acknowledge the Minister’s point because the staff say that emergency cases are facilitated and it has a good track record in that area. By good fortune the Minister had his own discussions this morning with these people. Developing the Saturday morning service would go a long way to solving the problem. The National Health Service, NHS, in Britain has many practices that have improved the service including Saturday service. Some hospitals in Scotland did the same. It would encourage parents and staff if the service could be used to its maximum. It is good to hear that it is going in that direction.

I do not have much to add other than to answer the Deputy’s question about the shortage of anaesthetists or anaesthesiologists. There are not enough of them around the world. There are shortages in many jurisdictions. If there are any unemployed ones I have never met them. They take a long time to train, six years in medical school and another five or six years of higher training. Health services around the world are competing for senior doctors. Last week, the HSE, the Department and the Irish Medical Organisation, concluded an agreement on revised salary scales for new entry consultants to make it more attractive for them to take up posts in Ireland, to make sure that the salaries are competitive with those in Australia and England. I hope that will result in more applications for the 200 or so vacant consultant posts in our health service. There are those who believe we should have income equality to the extreme, that nobody should be paid over €100,000 or should pay 60% or 70% tax on income over €100,000. The effect of that in Ireland would be to have virtually no hospital consultants, and patients would suffer and die.

There would be no anaesthetists.

Drugs-related Deaths

According to the Health Research Board’s national drug-related deaths index due to poisoning by alcohol and other drugs between 2004 and 2012, a total of 5,289 people died.

That is the size of the population of a small town. Is the Minister shocked by these figures? Why is this issue not being discussed? It certainly is not being reported on in our newspapers. I do not know if it is being discussed at Cabinet level. The people affected are from communities similar to the one in which I live. Many of those active in drug prevention and rehabilitation, the Garda Síochána and other service users believe the number of drug-related deaths is much higher. The number of deaths in 2012 was 633, which is a slight decrease on the number for the previous year. Since 2004, there have been 84 drug-related deaths in Tallaght. The number for 2012 is 14, which is, again, an increase on the figure for the previous year. Polysubstance abuse, including methadone and heroin, is responsible for the highest number of deaths.

At a conference on alcohol organised by the Tallaght drugs task force in Rua Red last year Dr. Joe Barry said that in Ireland alcohol is responsible for 88 deaths per month and 1,500 hospital beds being taken up each night. It is also responsible for 50% of drownings and fire fatalities, one in every ten psychiatric admissions, is the most common date rape drug, and is linked to 50% of suicides. A response to alcohol issues has been added to the workload of task forces. However, there have been multiple cuts in the core services of task forces over the past five years, including a 29% cut in the canals area; a 25% cut in Ballyfermot; a 37% cut in Dublin North East; a 30% cut in Finglas, a 23% cut in Tallaght; a 35% cut in Blanchardstown and a 24.7% cut in Walkinstown. Their workload has increased but they have no new additional resources to tackle emerging needs.

Does the Minister accept that the problem of drugs and their availability is getting worse? Does he accept it is more overt and is he aware of increased intimidation around drug debts? Addicts, dealers and runners are getting younger. Does the Minister accept that we need a dedicated Minister with responsibility for drugs and, if so, will he relay that to his Cabinet colleagues? CAB recovered and seized resources need to be redirected to the communities most affected. This has been proposed for many years. Perhaps the Minister will take it on board today.

We need more detox and residential beds. This is an issue highlighted by all task forces. Education and rehabilitation are key in terms of the response to the drugs epidemic. Does the Minister agree that it is unacceptable that the Department of Education and Skills does not tie into task force meetings? Is he aware of the multiple doctors prescribing drugs to addicts and can anything be done about this through the medical council or the Department of Health? Is the Minister aware of the sale of drugs outside schools and rehabilitation centres? Should dealers caught dealing outside these venues be given heavier sentences, as happens in other jurisdictions? Does the Minister believe new legislation in this area is needed?

Drug-related deaths are a human tragedy for the families and friends of the people involved. They have a considerable impact on communities and society as a whole. It is extremely disturbing that many of those who have died as a result of taking drugs were 40 or younger and that a significant number had coexisting addiction and mental illness problems. While it is clear that there are no easy solutions to addressing what is a very complex problem, the Government is committed to stepping up the effort to reduce the number of drug-related deaths.

The latest annual figures from the national drug-related deaths index show a slight decrease in the number of drug-related deaths from 645 in 2011 to 633 in 2012. However, the overall trend since records began in 2004 shows an increase of 50% in drug-related deaths. I agree this is an issue of major concern for Irish society. In the region of 5,300 people have died during this period and each of those deaths was a tragedy in its own right.

While the number of deaths in which heroin or methadone was involved continues to decline, the number of such deaths remains at a high level. The fact that almost 90% of these deaths involved polydrug use, with over half not registered on the central treatment list at the time of death, suggests that we need to redouble our efforts to get people registered as people with a drug problem and help them achieve a sustained recovery. Government policy in relation to tackling the drug problem is set out in the National Drugs Strategy 2009-2016. The strategy is a cross-cutting area of public policy and service delivery. It reflects the fact that problem drug users have complex needs which may require multiple interventions involving a range of different agencies, including law enforcement and education.

An additional €2.1 million was included in the HSE budget for 2015 for a series of measures aimed at encouraging those dependent on drugs to avail of treatment and other supports to reintegrate them into society. These measures include enhanced provision for residential detoxification, which is more detox beds, and rehabilitation facilities and the mainstreaming of needle exchange facilities outside of the Dublin area. The budget of local drugs task forces has not been cut in 2015. I am, unfortunately, not in a position to increase their budgets and acknowledge their increased workloads now that they have responsibility for alcohol too.

I am firmly of the view that many drug-related deaths are avoidable, in particular, those involving heroin or methadone overdoses. For this reason, I have given the HSE the go ahead to run a naloxone demonstration project, which will commence in the first quarter of 2015. The project will involve supplying 600 opioid users and their families with an antidote to drug overdoses to help stem the numbers of drug-related deaths. Naloxone reverses the effects of drugs like heroin, morphine and methadone if someone overdoses. This project will increase access to naloxone for non-medical staff, such as care workers, family and peers of opioid users.

As I mentioned earlier, the Health Research Board report also indicates that over half of those who died from traumatic causes in 2012 had a history of mental illness. Dealing with the current high levels of suicide and deliberate self-harm is a priority for this Government and my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. My Department and the HSE national office for suicide prevention are close to completing a new strategic framework for suicide prevention for the period 2015-2019. The Deputy will be aware that under this Government the budget of that office has been doubled. The framework aims to ensure that pathways of care for persons at risk of suicide or in suicidal crisis can be accessible, acceptable and available. It will take account of all relevant policies such as A Vision for Change, Healthy Ireland and the National Substance Misuse Strategy, as well as the report on drug-related deaths.

My Department will shortly commence work on the development of a new national drugs strategy for the period after 2016. The process will involve a comprehensive consultation with key stakeholders and the public on the current national drugs policy and future priorities. It will also take account of evidence-based research, information and data sources on the extent and nature of problem drug use in Ireland, including drug-related deaths.

I want to assure the House and the Deputy that the Government takes the issue of drug-related deaths extremely seriously and is committed to tackling this problem through all the mechanisms available.

I raise this issue today not to score points but to highlight the scale and nature of the problem and possible ways to address it. The number of drug-related deaths is unacceptable. I have a personal interest in this issue in that I know of many people whose deaths were drug-related. In one week alone I attended church services for three people who died directly from drugs. I know that other people in that area had also died that week. That is the scale of the problem. Many of these deaths are probably not be recorded in the national drug-related deaths index. As such, there is also a problem in regard to how we identify drug-related deaths.

If we are to tackle this issue we first need to know the scale of the problem. We need to start the conversation in this House about the scale of the problem and how collectively we can address it. Many communities feel disempowered. They are certainly dissatisfied that the Government in its wisdom took the decision to do away with the portfolio of the Minister with responsibility for drugs and instead included it within the remit of the Department of Health. That is not a criticism of the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar. As I said earlier, address of alcohol-related issues now comes within the remit of the task forces. Earlier in the week I attended a meeting at which the issue of resources for alcohol-related issues was raised. I refer again to CAB as a potential cash-cow in this regard. We know that a huge envelope of money is being spent on drugs.

That is one source of funding that needs to be directly put back into communities. If there is no funding available, there is certainly a significant amount of money going around from the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB. This needs to be spent back in communities.

Will the Minister accept this is the start of a conversation? Will he accept just five minutes to discuss this issue is not suitable and that we should have a debate in this House on the drugs issue and associated deaths? We owe it to all those who have died from drugs, many of them personal friends, and ensure another generation will not go down the same road. The figures are going up rather than down, however, which is a concern for all of us. The scale of the problem is getting worse.

I believe this is an important issue too and it is one that affects my constituency. I would very much welcome a more detailed debate in the House on this. That is a good idea. The Irish drugs-related deaths index is done to the highest standards. Such standards are not adhered to by many other countries. This is the major reason for the relatively high figures of drug-related deaths in Ireland. The index is calculated from four different sources, namely coroners' records, HIPE, the hospital inpatient inquiry system, the central treatment list and the general mortality register. It is compiled by the Health Research Board, a very well-respected agency and I would not question its numbers unless someone was able to show me better data.

I am very enthusiastic about the naloxone project which I believe will make a big difference. Access to it will mean overdoses can be reversed quickly which will make an enormous difference. I know the solution is not treating overdoses and that the solution starts much earlier than that. However, it would be a considerable achievement if we could significantly reduce the number of deaths as a result of overdoses this year.

The issue of a drugs Minister working across various Departments, such as health, education and justice, would be a matter for the Taoiseach. It would not be appropriate for me to assume his position on that. On alcohol, the Deputy will be aware that for the first time in the history of the State we are proceeding with a public health Bill on alcohol which includes a number of far-reaching measures which have been talked about for a long time but have not been implemented. I am keen to get that legislation through the House before the summer this year. I would appreciate the co-operation of the parties opposite in getting this legislation through. While some people claim it does not go far enough, I can assure the Deputy there are plenty of other interests which will try to delay the legislation and obstruct what we are trying to achieve in this area.

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