Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 September 2004
1285 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if he will report on those actions for which he has responsibility, namely actions 1, 2, 3 and 77, in his obligations under the National Drugs Strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22802/04]
View answerUnder action 1 of the National Drugs Strategy 2001-2008, responsibility for the co-ordination of the strategy rests with the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. In this context, the interdepartmental group on drugs, which I chair, meets regularly to assess progress by Departments and agencies in achieving the targets set for them. Any obstacles to the implementation of any of the actions are brought to light at these meetings. To date, approximately one third of the 100 actions have already been completed or are on-going tasks for the life of the strategy. With the exception of a few actions where work has yet to commence, work is in progress on the remainder.
In the context of action 2 of the strategy, as the Minister with responsibility for the co-ordination of the National Drugs Strategy and chair of the interdepartmental group on drugs, I present regular progress reports on the implementation of the strategy to the Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion. The committee reviews and assesses the progress of the strategy with specific reference to its targets and performance indicators. A progress report on achievements in the strategy will be published before the end of the year. The mid-term review of the strategy is underway and I expect that it will be completed in late 2004 or early 2005.
With regard to action 3, the young people's facilities and services fund supports in the region of 450 projects in the 14 local drugs task forces areas and four other urban centres. To date, approximately €75 million has been allocated under the two rounds of allocations under the fund. The sports capital programme gives extra weighting to areas of disadvantage and, from 2003, the programme has been prioritising local drugs task forces in RAPID and CLÁR areas in particular.
With regard to action 77, I have been in correspondence and had discussions with the Chairperson of the Oireachtas Committee for Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs on the matter of establishing a sub-committee dedicated to the issue of drug misuse. As yet the terms of reference and the membership of the sub-committee have not been finalised. However, I should point out that I have met with members of the committee earlier in the year to discuss drugs in a special session.
Over €80 million has been allocated to the local drugs task forces to implement their two rounds of local action plans. In addition, a further €12.8 million has been allocated to capital projects under the local drugs task forces premises initiative, which is designed to meet the accommodation needs of community-based drugs projects.
