Mr. Jim Doherty:

For a little bit of background, I was co-ordinator in Dún Laoghaire in 2004 and I have been in Blanchardstown since 2012. I have 20 years of experience of this. I think I am right in saying that the contact we have with the Department is at a fairly low ebb. One of the reasons we are asking for things to be scheduled and planned ahead is that it is very difficult to pursue an agenda when there is uncertainty about when the meetings are going to happen. It is probably the lowest level of contact that I have ever had in the 20 years I have been a drugs task force co-ordinator. That is a situation that needs to be addressed immediately.

I am old enough to remember the national drugs strategy team, which was a very good and very effective multi-agency team of senior representatives from different Departments who looked at issues that were common to different task forces across different areas and addressed the policy difficulties that created them. I am also old enough to also remember the national co-ordinating committee for drug and alcohol task forces, which did not do an effective job. The national oversight committee, which as I understand still exists, does not seem to produce effective, useful decisions and policy recommendations for us either. We are saying the structures that are in place are definitely not working. Regular engagement and contact would be a good way for us to start reviving those structures or building new, more effective structures. That would be the priority for us right now. It would be better for us to have a better relationship - this is not a comment on the present Minister's attitude to us - in terms of more frequent meetings and more easy conversations, because if the Minister has responsibility for us, we need access to him in order to articulate our concerns.