Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)

Is the Minister of State not misrepresenting the emerging needs fund? Is it not the case that it is intended to cover the needs of 14 task force areas, which is a major responsibility? Surely the emerging needs fund was a result of the Government's failure to provide round three plans for those task forces. Instead of round three plans the idea of an emerging needs fund was put to the national drugs strategy team which received the impression that this would be a substantial fund, not in the region of €800,000 which the Minister of State says might increase to €2 million. This is not the way to oversee and fund strategic planning on an issue as widespread and as complex as drug abuse.

Surely the Minister of State and the national drugs strategy team and the drugs task forces agreed criteria for this fund. The task forces were asked to apply for the fund which they did to the tune of €4.5 million. The national drugs strategy team approved over 90% as fulfilling the criteria. The task forces were then told the fund was only worth €1 million. Recently they have been told it may increase to €2 million. In the context of the Minister of State's other area of responsibility, housing, where a handful of individuals earn billions of euro, it is not too much to ask for the €5 million required to cover this major social problem.

Even as we speak, other issues such as crack cocaine threaten to cause chaos in this city yet there is no strategy, funding or anything else available to deal with it because there is no strategic planning by the Minister of State at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Noel Ahern. When the national drugs strategy team produces a plan, it is humiliated by being told there is no money.

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