I propose to take Questions Nos. 649 and 650 together.
My Department provides funding for thirty eight projects in Local Drugs Task Force areas, including the projects specifically referred to by Deputies Mitchell and Barrett. These projects, through a variety of programmes and activities, seek, in the main, to encourage young people not to engage in drug-taking. My Department originally took on responsibility for funding these projects through a mainstreaming process, whereby projects on interim funding were assigned to a number of departments and State agencies. Thirty five of the projects are administered by the three VECs in Dublin City, Dublin County and in Dún Laoghaire, while the remaining three projects are funded directly by my Department. The allocations for the 38 projects over the past three years were as follows:
2007 — €3,621,000;
2008 — €3,715,000;
2009 — €3,643,000
Arising from Budget 2010, it was decided that funding for these projects was to be reduced to €2,461,000 in 2010. I acknowledge the difficulties arising for projects and my Department is currently reviewing the implications of this decision for the individual projects concerned.