Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 10 Mar 1998

Vol. 488 No. 4

Written Answers - Drugs Reports.

Pat Rabbitte

Ceist:

28 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the progress, if any, made in implementing the recommendations of the first and second reports of the Ministerial Task Force on Measures to Reduce the Demand for Drugs in relation to areas of responsibility of his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6300/98]

Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern)

In its first report the ministerial task force recommended that my Department examine ways in which the Community Development Programme administered by my Department might be used to assist communities in the priority areas cope with the drugs problem.

The basis of the Community Development Programme is to develop personal and community capacity building measures by funding specific projects. The programme is being used to assist communities in the local drugs task force areas.

All but one of these areas now has a CDP project. The projects are designed to help communities cope with aspects of disadvantage, including the problems of drugs.

In addition, the majority of the task force areas have a money advice and budgeting service project, which was set up by my Department in conjunction with the credit union movement to tackle the problems of moneylending and indebtedness. Funding is also provided in these areas for locally based self-help and personal development groups under my Department's scheme of grants for voluntary groups.

The question of how the Community Development Programme might play a more direct role in the drugs area was looked at and arising from this a project was agreed with the Dublin citywide drugs crisis campaign. Following on this a specialist support agency was set up to provide advice to the community development projects on how to respond to the drug problem in their areas, including co-operation with the statutory agencies.

In recent years my Department has piloted ten projects aimed at providing supports to families dealing with disadvantage. This year the programme has been established as the Family and Community Services Resource Centre Programme and up to 25 additional projects will be established in 1998.

I would also like to mention that the Combat Poverty Agency's current strategic plan commits the agency to contributing to and complementing current efforts at both local and national level to address the drugs problem. As part of a broader programme of work in relation to drugs the agency has developed a grant scheme specifically aimed at enchancing the contribution of local groups to policy making in this area.