Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 and 301 together.

My Department was allocated €31.5 million to fund drugs initiatives in 2005, which represents an 18% increase on last year's budget. Through the funding available to me, the valuable work being done by local drugs task forces, LDTFs, and the young peoples facilities and services fund, YPFSF, will continue to be supported and developed.

In addition, the following new initiatives will be rolled out. A new fund to tackle emerging needs in the LDTF areas will be provided. I hope to make some announcements in this regard shortly. The Department will also continue to support a number of pilot projects which were announced last Christmas specifically to tackle cocaine. Funding will also be allocated to implement the action plans from the regional drugs task forces. In this context, the Deputy should note that I will make initial allocations to six of the regions in the next few weeks. Seven plans have been received and this allocation will consist of a first tranche of the funding. A third round of capital funding under the young peoples facilities and services fund in local drugs task force areas will also be announced shortly. A further round of funding through the premises initiative for community-based drugs projects in local drugs task force areas will also be made this year. Moreover, additional administrative supports for some local drugs task forces will be rolled out.

The Deputy should also note that in addition to the initiatives noted earlier, over recent years a large number of projects which were initially developed through the local drugs task forces and the young peoples facilities and services fund have been taken into the mainstream by various Departments and agencies. It is estimated that in monetary terms, these make up a further €19 million to €20 million so that in total, a sum of more than €50 million has been invested in projects which started at local drugs task force level and which continue on an ongoing basis.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

This Government continues to tackle the drug problem in the most comprehensive way possible. In this context, the Deputy should note that the mid-term review of the drugs strategy, which was published in early June, found that there are encouraging signs of progress since 2001 when the strategy was first launched. This suggests our current approach to tackling the drug problem is proving to be effective.

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