Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not disagree with anything Senator Buttimer said. The more facilities we can provide in communities, run through the HSE and community services, the better chance people have of being caught at an early stage in their addiction, which helps them in the long run. I was pleased to announce additional funding of €1 million in budget 2020 to support the implementation of the national drugs strategy. Two initiatives submitted by Cork Kerry Community Healthcare in conjunction with Cork city and the southern regional drugs task force were approved for this funding. These initiatives reflect the priority agreed between the community health organisation and the task force to target resources at groups most in need. Each initiative will receive a total of €190,000 over three years.

One initiative is targeted to provide special youth support to a significant vulnerable cohort of young people in Kerry. Another initiative will fund a case management clinical supervisor to enhance services across drug and alcohol homelessness and prison services in the Cork Kerry Community Healthcare region. I am confident that these initiatives will improve access to drugs services for people with complex needs and assist them in their journey to recovery.

The Department has been starved of funding for a long time and I am conscious of the fact that we are only starting to fund projects and community facilities again. I wish to work in partnership with the HSE and community groups. My responsibility, as Minister of State with responsibility for the national drugs strategy, is to ensure that the funding is used well and, most of all, that there is governance and accountability, be it in the HSE or in community groups. That is my job. I intend to ensure that when funding is made available to groups we will follow up through reviews of how the money has been spent. It is not my money, but the people's money. It comes into the State's coffers. We must ensure that when money goes to communities and to the HSE it is specifically monitored through governance and accountability. That is what I am trying to do, particularly in the task force area. There has been some upset in the task forces about that, but that is my job. I intend to finish the job I started.