Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 March 2006
61 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs when a decision will be made on the funding application by a group (details supplied) in Dublin 7 for their drug rehabilitation project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10960/06]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs I indicated in a reply to the Deputy earlier this month, I am aware of the rehabilitation programme being provided by this project. It is in receipt of substantial core funding of approximately €80,000 per annum. In addition FÁS provides funding through its special category community employment scheme for the trainees and supervisor of the project.
An application for additional assistance from the emerging needs fund has been made on behalf of the project. This application, with a large number of others, is being considered at present and a decision on the matter will be made soon.
When will a decision be made? That was my question. I have raised this question on a number of occasions, but do not seem able to get that information. Will the Minister of State clarify whether there is a deadline on this and whether he intends to make a decision or leave it on his desk?
Is the Minister of State aware that concerned people in the north-west inner city were encouraged by the health board, the drugs task force and everybody involved in the drugs problem in that area to create a process for rehabilitation and reintegration into the community? This group, the first community-based group to provide a workable and successful rehabilitation project, set up the project in good faith, but the funding door has been slammed in its face. It is not good enough that the Minister of State should speak of substantial funding when this group is running a project for heroin addicts on a shoestring with the assistance of a FÁS scheme. Is that the attitude of the Government and the Minister of State who has special responsibility for the drugs problem? Is the response to drug rehabilitation to leave it to a FÁS scheme?
Is the Minister of State aware that the people benefiting from this scheme have, on average, been addicted to heroin for ten to 12 years, since their early teens? Is he aware their heroin addiction arose from social disadvantage and the neglect by Governments of this area of the inner city? Now, when they attempt to rehabilitate and reintegrate themselves into the community, they are again excluded by the Government. They are excluded from funding that would provide staff. Surely the Minister of State accepts that rehabilitation cannot occur without full-time staff and a proper premises. This cannot be provided by a FÁS scheme and the limited funding that has been made available to date. What are the Minister of State's views on this and how much money is being spent on drug rehabilitation projects in the inner city?
I am told there is a Cabinet committee that deals with social inclusion and drugs, with the various Departments represented on it. Has this committee examined the issue of rehabilitation? It was the failure of the health services to provide this type of service that caused the community to fill the gap and develop a workable rehabilitation project. Having done this, the community is getting a slap in the face for its efforts from all concerned. Will the Minister of State make a decision on the issue as quickly as possible? In making his decision he should consider in detail the work and success of this project to date and the value to the community and society generally of reintegrating people who have been unfortunate to suffer from heroin addiction for more than ten years.
Some of what the Deputy has said is over the top and I do not quite understand him. He says there is a very good project in the area rehabilitating people and that is fine. It was set up under the process and has a FÁS supervisor and €80,000 per annum of core funding which provides two extra staff. Therefore, there are currently three staff involved in the project. FÁS is an important agency in the area of the rehabilitation of drug addicts and currently has approximately 1,000 CE places ringfenced for it. Many projects with FÁS CE places do great work. I distance myself from the Deputy's criticism of FÁS because its projects are worthwhile. The Deputy's comments are at variance with the facts and with what people on the ground would say.
That is rubbish.
The Minister of State knows that is not what I said.
The Minister of State should go up to Coolock and he would see the situation.
Order, please.
He should not put his own spin on what I said.
I am answering the questions I was asked.
Is drug rehabilitation part of the FÁS brief or its responsibility?
Order, please.
This matter has been recommended to me. In the Deputy's words and the words of others we have a project that is deemed very successful. It has three staff members and caters for 14 or 16 recovering drug users. The funding proposal put forward is for an extra €151,000 for three more staff. If the project is so successful, I am at a loss as to why it needs to double its staff.
The proposal has been made and I have read the file on it carefully. I am still not fully happy and have many questions on it. I hope to visit the project and speak to those involved. Many people, including the Deputy and others, have recommended the project. However, if it is so successful, I wonder why it needs an extra €151,000 for three more staff. It seems a big change in resources to move from three to six. I will not reject the proposal without talking to the people involved.
The Minister of State may have forgotten what I asked. I welcome the fact the Minister of State intends to visit the project — I know he visited it previously and think he launched it. Leaving FÁS aside, what is being spent by the Minister of State's Department on drug rehabilitation projects in the inner city?
I cannot give the Deputy an overall figure now but under the mid-term review of the strategy we agreed to make rehabilitation the fifth pillar. Currently a working group is addressing rehabilitation in conjunction with all the relevant agencies. It is accepted by the Department that one of the weaknesses in the strategy concerned rehabilitation. The working group is operational and will submit its report this year.
The Minister of State made great play of all the money he was spending and all the resources made available for this issue——
We must move on to Question No. 62.
He does not know how much is being spent on drug rehabilitation in the inner city, even though he has responsibility for drugs. The only possible explanation is that nothing is being spent on drug rehabilitation.
Question No. 62, please.
The Minister of State should resign.
He should start investing in it.
62 Mr. English asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the main aspects of the national drugs strategy where considerable progress remains to be achieved; the way in which he intends to ensure that all the 100 recommendations contained in the strategy and those amended through the mid-term review of the strategy are implemented in full by the strategy’s end; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11082/06]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe report of the steering group on the mid-term review of the national drugs strategy was published in June of 2005. The report was the culmination of a comprehensive review, which included extensive consultation with Departments, agencies and the public.
The review was overseen by a steering group, chaired by my Department and made up of representatives of the relevant Departments and agencies as well as the community and voluntary sectors. Some assistance was provided by external consultants. The review sought to assess the impact and direction of the strategy at its mid-point and the steering group concentrated on identifying beneficial adjustments to the strategy and highlighting priorities for the second phase up to 2008.
The steering group found that the current aims and objectives of the drugs strategy are fundamentally sound. It confirmed that there have been encouraging signs of progress since 2001, when the strategy was first launched, suggesting that our current approach to tackling the drug problem is proving to be effective.
However, the review highlights the need to refocus priorities and accelerate the roll-out and implementation of various key actions in the remaining period of the strategy up to 2008. In this context, a number of new actions and amendments to others were identified. These changes have strengthened the strategy and will enable it to deliver its aims more effectively.
Ten of the strategy's 100 existing actions were replaced, a further seven were amended and eight new actions, which aim to address issues such as family support and rehabilitation, were added. In terms of progress, the review found that 49 of the original 100 actions outlined in the strategy are completed or are of an ongoing nature, progress was ongoing on a further 45 and there were six actions on which considerable progress has still to be made.
Rehabilitation was identified as an issue that needed to be developed. It was agreed that rehabilitation should become the fifth pillar of the strategy and that a working group be established to develop a strategy for the provision of integrated rehabilitation services.
I established the rehabilitation working group, which includes representatives from a range of Departments and agencies involved in delivering rehabilitation services as well as the national drugs strategy team, the national advisory committee on drugs and representatives from the community and voluntary sectors. The report of the working group will be available in the coming months.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House.
All the actions in the national drugs strategy are progressing with significant input and co-operation from other Departments and agencies, such as the Health Service Executive, the Garda Síochána, the customs service of the Revenue Commissioners, the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Irish Prison Service and FÁS, as well as the community and voluntary sector.
I am confident that the current consensus on the direction of the national drugs strategy will remain and that we will continue to respond in a focused way as the situation evolves.
I thank the Minister of State for his reply, although I do not agree that there are encouraging signs of progress. The report he refers to was published almost a year ago and those who wrote it might change their minds in the current climate, with people being shot and drug usage increasing. We are going backwards in terms of the availability of drugs. Drugs are widespread and readily available in every town and village in the country and usage has increased considerably. Regardless of what a report indicates, the Minister of State knows that drug usage has increased. Progress may have been made in implementing some of the strategy's recommendations but progress has not been made in tackling the overall drug problem.
A major part of the drug strategy was the introduction of regional drugs task forces. These task forces were set up three or four years ago and their plans were finally submitted last September, although many of these were simply a copy of the national plan. A sum of €5 million was allocated and we now discover that less than 13% of that has been spent or drawn down. Only 4% was spent in the greater Dublin region, where there is an enormous drug problem, and 0% was spent in the midlands, despite the fact that several reports have indicated a major increase in the use of cocaine and other drugs.
What does the Minister propose to do to ensure the money is spent and results are achieved? I have spoken to people involved in the regional task forces who are not happy with the progress made to date. In some areas, staff have resigned. What is the problem and why is there a delay in spending the money? I complained in the past about the delay in publishing the plans. The plans finally arrived but now the money is not being spent. I have been told that staff in the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs are selecting certain elements from the plans and making recommendations on what should be funded. I do not know if that is true but my understanding was that if a task force produced a plan, it would be allocated funding and directed to implement that plan. The task forces spent four years designing their plans and the Department should back off.
Money is not being spent but it is likely that next December or January, the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern, and other Ministers will hand over large cheques and smile for photographers in the run-up to the general election. That will be next year's money. It is a shame. Let us spend the money now and get results.
Community policing was highlighted in most of the regional drugs task force plans as an essential element of the way forward. Much ranting and raving has taken place in the past few days over the figures for the Garda Síochána and the fact that numbers have dropped in many places. In my home town of Navan, there are seven fewer gardaí than there were 20 years ago. In the greater Dublin area, there were only two more gardaí.
That is a matter for another Minister.
How will we improve community policing if the numbers of gardaí are down? Will the Minister of State lobby the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to increase the level of community policing, given that it is highlighted in most task force plans as a successful way to tackle the drug problem?
I do not deny that there are more drugs available now but supply reduction is one of the pillars of the strategy. At some levels, the Garda Síochána has been very successful. Seizures in recent years have yielded enormous amounts of drugs. The Garda Síochána and customs officials have been very successful. I recently attended the launch of a new x-ray scanner for use by customs officials, which can scan full containers and trucks as they come through the ports, much like what happens with suitcases at airports. While the Garda Síochána and customs officers are seizing more drugs, a large amount is still getting through.
The regional drugs task forces may have been slow in getting their plans finalised, but those plans are now agreed and approved, and funding has been provided.
Nothing is happening.
The people the Deputy is talking to on the ground——
The Minister of State knows this himself.
We approve the plans and provide the funding.
There is something wrong. The funding is not going out——
There is no problem with funding.
Who do we blame for that?
There is no problem whatsoever with the money.
Only 4% was spent in six months.
Allow the Minister of State to respond.
I saw the Deputy's press release yesterday——
The Minister of State gave me the figures.
Of course, but there is no problem with funding. Spending is being driven at local level by the regional drugs task forces. We do not give the money to those task forces. Different projects will involve the HSE, local authorities, VECs and so on. We would like such agencies to send their bills to us on a weekly or monthly basis but that does not happen. We will probably be hit by a raft of bills next November.
The figures we supplied to the Deputy refer to the amount that has been claimed from the Department by the various agencies and is not necessarily an accurate reflection of the amount being spent on the ground. I do not have to give any further authority or approval in order for things to happen on the ground. That is now entirely up to the regional drugs task forces. However, just because something is approved does not mean it will happen overnight.
I totally accept that.
There is a process involved in developing and building up a critical mass of appropriate staff. In many cases, it will take a number of months to get the key projects up and running. That is all being driven at local level, in co-operation with the national drugs strategy team. There is no block or hold in terms of the Department's role. All the plans from the regions were estimated to cost €12.5 million and to take approximately three years to implement. The task forces have been given approval for €5 million, which is more than enough for this year. Next year, they will probably be given another couple of million, as they develop and get projects up and ready to roll out.
Garda numbers in Dublin are up by approximately 600.
The numbers are only up by two.
No, they are up by 600 since the Government came to power eight years ago. The figures discussed yesterday do not include specialist units, most of which are based in Dublin. Extra gardaí have been assigned to the national drugs unit, the Criminal Assets Bureau and the bureau of fraud investigation. These are additional to the figures that Deputy English's colleague was arguing about yesterday. The reality is that there are 800 to 900 extra gardaí in Dublin.
Will the Minister of State bring the issue of community policing to the attention of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform? Although every Garda station may have access to a drugs squad, it will not have one based in it.
Every Garda division has one.
It does not. Every station needs a person dedicated to combating illegal drugs crime. As it takes so long to get a result in a drug crime, to keep detection figures up, many stations put their efforts into combating other areas of crime. Will the Minister of State bring this to the attention of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform?
The Minister of State claims the money is available but there is no more he can do. I believe he is interested in tackling the drugs problem. Will he take charge and demand results? The strategy needs to be driven. We waited long enough for the recommendations of the mid-term review. We cannot wait any longer to spend the money. The Minister of State must take an active involvement in spending the allocated money and pushing the strategy. I am concerned it lacks drive. The Minister of State is the man to drive the strategy. There is no point in saying the money is available. I want to see it spent with results.
We are driving the strategy. We are pushing it but we need a little pull as well. We are working with the national drugs strategy team. I understand the Deputy's concerns but it will happen as the year goes on. I would be concerned if a half a dozen staff were to begin working on the strategy next Monday. I would be much happier if there was one recruit every four weeks so that it is built up in a proper way. At the end of the year most of the funding will be spent.
