Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

There is a problem in the drugs area and there is a strategy in place to deal with it which is receiving considerable funding from Government. Over the past seven or eight years, approximately €200 million has been provided through the local drugs task forces and the young people's facilities and services fund, not to mention all the money spent by the Garda and Customs and Excise on law enforcement and by the Department of Health and Children on treatment and on education and awareness campaigns. We only provide the money which goes to the local drugs task forces and the young people's facilities and services fund.

I do not know what the Deputy means by a more targeted response. We have just done a mid-term review of the strategy. All the State agencies and voluntary and community groups were involved in it and had an input. The review took almost 12 months. There has been exhaustive consultation so that everyone can feel part of and claim ownership of it. What has emerged is the product of everyone's involvement.

There is crime and there are areas in which there are difficulties but we have provided nearly €100 million through the young people's facilities and services fund, including €3.2 million for the new hall in Donnycarney in the Deputy's constituency. We realise it is not enough just to tell young people not to get involved in drugs. One must try to give them alternatives and point them in the direction of healthy sporting or other pursuits. Much money is being spent in that way.

The youth service, certainly in the Dublin area, has been totally revitalised in recent years through money from the young people's facilities and services fund. It tries to give people in "at risk" areas the opportunity to keep away from drugs and that is part of the way in which the strategy operates.

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