Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

I will be arguing for an extension of the area of the operation of the Drug Treatment Court to Dublin 10, Ballyfermot and Dublin 22, Clondalkin. As Deputy Costello said, the Drug Treatment Court operates only in Dublin's north inner city. I wish to quote the former Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the then Deputy Dermot Ahern who in a review published by him in 2010 stated:

Participants who engage with the drug treatment programme have reduced rates of recidivism and improved health, education and social skills, which impact positively on the participants and the community. However, the review also confirmed that the DTC, as currently operating, is not dealing with sufficient numbers of participants and programme completion rates are low.

I am therefore asking the Minister for Justice and Equality to extend the operation of the Drug Treatment Court to Dublin 10 and Dublin 22, two areas of the city close to each other and which unfortunately have serious drugs problems. From talking to both the Garda and staff of the Drug Treatment Court it is clear that the crime level of those involved in the court drops steeply.

I spoke to staff in the Drug Treatment Court a few weeks ago, I was surprised to hear that even though the programme has the capacity to take on 100 candidates, it only had 35 at that point and could easily deal with more people. Extending the operation to Dublin 10 and Dublin 22, and perhaps other areas would provide more suitable candidates because not everybody who comes before the courts on drug charges is a suitable candidate for rehabilitation. For the many who are suitable it is a much better way of dealing with them. By expanding the operation of the Drug Treatment Court to these districts the Minister would be helping to tackle a growing problem in this city.

It is very clear that resources are not currently being used efficiently due to the geographical restrictions on the Drug Treatment Court. It costs the State approximately €77,200 per prisoner per year to detain a person in prison. If one compares that cost with the cost of placing someone in the Drug Treatment Court programme at less than a fifth of that figure, there is the potential to make considerable savings to the Exchequer - which we are all being asked to do at present - while placing drug addicts in a programme that gives them the opportunity to escape the cycle of drugs and crime into which they have fallen, and which imprisonment will almost certainly not solve due to the power of the addiction they are under. This is a no-brainer.

We must move to tackle the inefficient use of resources currently occurring due to the geographical restrictions on the work of the Drug Treatment Court programme. I ask the Minister to examine the issue thoroughly and to give me a "Yes" or a "No" answer on whether he will expand the geographical area of the court, to include the areas we have suggested or indeed elsewhere. Should the Minister intend to proceed with this, will he give me a timeframe for when this will occur?

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