The resolution before the committee seeks approval for the retention of those sections of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996 which relate to the detention of suspected drug traffickers. As members will be aware, section 11 of the Act requires the Minister to prepare a report on the operation of the provisions in question in conjunction with the moving of a resolution to provide for their renewal. The necessary report covering the period 23 November 2002 to 11 November 2004 has been laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas.
Our primary focus this afternoon is on the renewal of the detention provisions in the Act and I am pleased to be here to discuss the matter with members of the committee. However, before elaborating on the various sections of the Act at issue, it would be useful to place our discussions in the context of the overall drugs problem and the Government's response to it. My Department's role in drug policy is primarily, although not exclusively, in the area of drug supply control, just one of the elements of the Government's overall holistic approach to tackling the drugs issue.
We are all aware of the ongoing challenge which drug misuse, including the very nature of addiction, presents for all societies in the modern world. In recent decades drug misuse has increasingly become an integral part of societal culture in virtually every country in the developed world. Ireland is no exception to this global phenomenon. The Government remains very conscious that drug misuse continues to be one of the most pressing social problems being experienced in our communities today. The harm and misery brought about as a consequence of drug abuse at the level of the individual, family and society demand our ongoing attention and firm resolve to tackle the problem head on. For this reason, addressing drug misuse continues to be a major priority for the Government as reflected in the programme for Government. The Government knows a focused, integrated and co-ordinated approach to this multi-faceted and difficult problem is required. It is precisely for this reason the national drugs strategy has been put in place. As members will be aware, it sets out a policy framework for dealing with the drugs issue for the period 2001-08 and contains 100 individual actions to be implemented by a range of Departments and agencies. The seven-year strategy is ongoing work. Departments and agencies involved in its implementation have made welcome progress to date in delivering or progressing many of the actions.
The strategy is being delivered across the four pillars of supply reduction, prevention, treatment and research. Central to the approach is the bringing together of the work of the key Departments and agencies in a co-ordinated manner, working with the communities most affected by the drug problem. This latter dimension is a key element in our approach. The experience and expertise of people dealing with the issue at ground level within local communities must continue to be recognised and utilised in real ways in a collective effort. The encouraging progress made in recent years via real partnership approaches between the State agencies, the community and the voluntary sector in tackling the drugs problem, through for example the work programme and projects of the local drug task force and the work of the national drug strategy team and the national advisory committee on drugs, all with cross-sectoral representation, must be built upon to ensure significant and real improvements.
Over 500 community-based projects have been established in local areas, through which a range of different drug-related responses are in place. The number of heroin abusers seems to have stabilised. The number of places in treatment services has increased considerably, as has the availability of methodone treatment. The Department of Education and Science implemented a drugs misuse prevention programme in all schools in the local drug task force areas during the academic year 2001-02. Guidelines to assist schools in the development of a drug policy have also been developed and were issued to primary and post-primary schools in May 2000. The national advisory committee on drugs continues to implement the very important research mandate given to it by the Government. That mandate has recently been renewed for a further period to coincide with the second half of the national drugs strategy.
In terms of resources, it is worthwhile pointing out that approximately €80 million has been allocated to date to assist in the region of 500 projects under the two rounds of the plan of the local drug task force. Approximately €12.8 million has been allocated under the premises initiative which is designed to meet the accommodation of community-based drug projects, the majority of which are in the task force areas, and approximately €75 million has been provided for in the region of 450 facilities and services under the young persons' facilities and services fund. That is in addition to the ongoing funding for agencies which deal with drug issues as part of their ordinary business.
The Government knows it cannot be complacent in relation to the work it still faces in tackling the drug problem. My colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for co-ordinating the strategy, announced that a significant increase in funding will be provided for drug programmes next year. Overall a total of €31.5 million is being provided in next year's Estimates for the various drug initiatives under the remit of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. That represents an 18% increase over the 2004 figure. The increased funding will be used to support and resource important new drug initiatives which the task forces will develop as their action plans come on stream next year. The Government is also committed to building on the progress made by the young people's facilities and services fund. I supplied material in my script in relation to that.
The second round of funding of more than €13 million which the Government announced for the fund last year will enable a number of new dedicated youth and community centres to be built in such places as Darndale, Knockmitten in Clondalkin, Brookfield in Tallaght, Ballywaltrim in Bray and Knocknaheany in Cork city. Funding will also be made available towards the staffing and operational costs of a number of centres built under the first round of the fund. The 33% increase in funding for the RAPID programme, in addition to the €6 million increase in the community and voluntary local development services funding for 2005 which will fund 15 new development projects in disadvantaged areas, will further assist in tackling the drug problem in the areas where it is most felt. All this is evidence of the Government's continued commitment to addressing the drug problem in a targeted way.
My Department's submission to the review indicated that our focus over the next four years of the strategy will be aimed at ensuring that a robust legislative response remains in place to tackle the drug problem, continued policy development in the area of drug arrest referral schemes and the drugs court, the development of community policing fora on a statutory basis in the context of the Garda Síochána Bill which is currently before the Seanad that will build on the success of the drug task force originated fora which already exist, the building of inter-agency collaboration and collaboration with the community and voluntary treatment sectors.
I now turn to the question of supply reduction. The proposal to renew detention provision under this Act for a further two years is particularly relevant in that context. Members of the committee will be aware of the concerted action of the law enforcement agencies to tackle the drug problem. The Garda Síochána enforcement response to reducing the supply of drugs centres around a number of key principles, one of which is conducting intelligence driven operations at an international, national and local level against the criminal networks involved in the trade. Such major operations continue to result in many significant drug seizures being made in this country and in the disruption of supply networks. In addition, more locally focused operations targeted at street dealers and dealers operating in licensed premises continue to yield positive results.
The ongoing success of the Criminal Assets Bureau in implementing the Government strategy to pursue and recover the proceeds of crime, including assets accrued through drug trafficking, is also to be applauded. Obviously we are very pleased every time there is a successful drugs operation, but we are not naive enough to imagine that the organised drug traffickers would just give up when their assets are seized or their supply is interdicted. As well as ensuring that our law enforcement agencies get the ongoing resources that they need to tackle drug trafficking, it is crucial that our legislative response at all times provides the necessary platform from which our agencies can effectively operate.
That brings me to the business of today. Section 11 of the Act provides that each of sections 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 will cease to be in operation 12 months after the date of the commencement unless they are extended in the manner provided under the Act. On a number of occasions they have been extended. Resolutions were most recently passed in December 2002 and they bring the life of the sections up to 31 December 2004. It is now proposed to renew them for a further two-year period to 2006. I reiterate my comment on the last occasion I brought this matter before the committee when I said that Members of the Oireachtas get the opportunity to examine at appropriate intervals strong legislative provisions such as these in order to determine the need to retain them. I think the drugs problem is such now that the notion that this is temporary legislation is beginning to diminish. I think it will have to be a permanent aspect of our law. That is not to say that I resent in any way coming in and having to report on it, but I do not think the life of these provisions should depend on continual renewal. We should face up to the fact that the provisions set out in my statement are permanent features of the response to drugs for the foreseeable future. Obviously it is a question of balance as to how these powers are used. The report before the committee shows that they are not used on an indiscriminate basis, but they have to be used in an effective way. While drug supply controls are only one element of the Government's overall drug response, the passing of this resolution allows us to demonstrate that we are determined as a Parliament to deal with drug traffickers and sends the right message to the law enforcement agencies to get on with the task.
As Minister, I propose to introduce in the near future prison rules which will introduce mandatory drug testing in prisons. I hope those rules will be ready in the coming weeks. It is very important that when we find people who are both drug addicts and drug suppliers and commit them to prison, they should not be left in an environment where drug availability is condoned or regarded as inevitable. That is in my view a counsel of despair. If we believe in rehabilitation, we have to follow through on the logic of that to stop prisons being places where drugs are easily available to people sent there for punishment and rehabilitation.