Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 10 May 2000

Vol. 518 No. 6

Written Answers. - National Drugs Strategy.

Liam Lawlor

Ceist:

514 Mr. Lawlor asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the funding for specific projects in the Clondalkin local drugs task force area which has not been drawn down; if there is a cut-off point for this draw down of funding; and if there is a list of alternative projects to which funding might be diverted. [12505/00]

Minister of State at the Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation (Mr. E. Ryan)

A total of £943,000 was approved by Government in 1997 to support the action plan prepared by the Clondalkin drugs task force.

Of the 46 individual projects approved, only one has yet to draw down funding. The total amount of funding involved in this project is £29,000. I understand that a proposal has recently been submitted by the Clondalkin drugs task force to the national drugs strategy team for its consideration with a view to making progress on this matter.

While no deadline was set for the draw down of funding for projects approved to date, the local drugs task forces have been asked to prepare up-dated plans on the basis of the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion to allocate a further £15 million to the drugs initiative. In preparing up-dated plans, task forces have been asked to review progress in implementing the existing plan and to indicate the reasons some projects commenced quickly and why others have not yet commenced or are unlikely to proceed. Each task force is currently in the process of drawing up its new plan and proposals seeking funding should be submitted directly to the task force for consideration.