Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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On the same issue, it relates to the supplementary budget but the Minister of State spoke about additional money being put forward. It is a drop in the ocean. My local task force, which I have been a member of practically since it was established, looked for an additional €1 million-plus for the roll-out of services. That was for community engagement with young people who were at risk, and for additional services due to emerging trends. That is just one task force.

The Minister of State is talking about the additional funding across the country. It is a drop in the ocean. With the volume of drugs out there, we get a sense of it in our own communities. Where can one go that drugs are not being sold or consumed? There are very few places one can go in this city where drugs are not being sold. There is a normalisation of the drug scene. Many of those who are working in the services, the section 39 workers, have not had an increase since 2008. There is talk about that increase. Deputy Shortall talked about holding on to staff in order to hold on to management of the services. The funding is not there in terms of what has been allocated to them. Front-line services are losing staff to other services, the likes of the HSE and so on. That is the common theme. I hope that in a number of weeks' time, we will have the drugs task forces before the committee as well as the Minister of State but the funding is a drop in the ocean compared with the challenges they face out there.

There is the issue of nitrous oxide being consumed everywhere. One can see the canisters everywhere. They are like thermos flasks. One sees them at the side of the road, at beauty spots, on GAA pitches, in car parks, in shopping centres and elsewhere. That is the drug of choice. It is children - literally children of eight, nine or ten years of age - who are taking it. There is talk of possibly giving out balloons so the children will not burn their mouths or their lungs will not collapse. That is just one drug.

Drug intimidation is a huge issue across all of the task force areas. The Minister of State is only new to the job but the problem has been there for a number of years. The problem is getting worse. There is crack cocaine in many of our areas now. That was the big fear. Other drugs are coming down the track. We still have heroin users and cocaine users. If one talks to any of the hospitals, one hears of the challenges they face related to this and it is not just young people, people in their seventies are presenting at the weekends due to cocaine use. We will have the Minister of State at this committee in a number of weeks but there is a huge challenge. He has the support of the Oireachtas with regard to additional funding but we need to wake up to the reality facing our communities. Young people are dying because there is not enough support out there. Young people are committing suicide. Young people are being intimidated by drug dealers. These are young people who have to go to school. They are trying to get supports and services but there is drug dealing going on outside those services. There is a huge problem. We do not have time to deal with it this morning as we are dealing with a Supplementary Estimate but I hope we will have a session with the Minister of State to discuss the real problems facing out population out there.