Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)

Tá lúcháir orm deis a bheith agam cúpla focal a rá maidir leis an ábhar tábhachtach seo. Ceann de na fadhbanna sóisialta is mó atá againn sa tír i láthair na huaire ná mí-úsáid drugaí agus achan rud a chothaíonn sí i measc gach páirt den phobal — brúidiúlacht, dúnmharfóirí agus mar sin de. Níl aon pháirt den tír nach bhfuil an fhadhb sin ann.

Tonight's motion is very important. It urges the Government to sit up, take notice and realise that Ireland's problem with drug misuse is worsening and is spiralling out of control. The Government and the Minister of State would rather tell us that we are making progress in the fight against drugs. The reality is very different. Our young people, our parents and our communities could easily tell the Minister that the situation is different. They could tell us that drugs have never been more affordable, more easily available and more widespread at any time in our history.

Since it took office in 1997, the Government has failed to get a grasp on this problem. Drugs were once mainly a problem in highly urbanised and disadvantaged areas, particularly in our capital city. This is no longer the case. Drugs, of all varieties, are now widely available throughout every village, community and estate in Ireland. This has occurred during the Government's watch. The Government has stepped back from its responsibility to tackle our national drugs crisis. This approach, or lack of action, in dealing with our drugs problem on the part of the present Government, contrasts markedly with that taken by the rainbow Government when it was in power.

Between 1994 and 1997 the rainbow Government was the first Government in the history of the State to treat the drugs problem seriously. It launched two particularly significant initiatives in this regard. One was the establishment of the national drugs strategy, which in turn led to the setting up of the local drugs task forces. The other was the establishment of the Criminal Assets Bureau which allowed the State for the first time to seize the cash and assets of the crime barons. While the Criminal Assets Bureau did not solve the drugs problem, there is no doubt that the problem would be far worse without it.

The Government has not shown a similar level of commitment to dealing with drug abuse. If anything, it has allowed the situation to slip back into the bad old days of increased violent gangland activity, as well as spiralling levels of drug dealing and misuse on our streets.

Even since the beginning of this year, we have seen shocking levels of murder and violence on our streets, all of which is related to the burgeoning drugs trade. Criminal gangs are openly killing each other on our streets in their war to gain control of the drugs trade. The public shrugs its shoulders at each new gangland killing and our under-resourced security forces feel increasingly helpless at their inability to make an impact on or to end the drug culture developing on our streets.

The lack of treatment places for heroin misusers outside of Dublin is a serious issue and has reached crisis. A response to a parliamentary question tabled by my colleague Deputy English recently revealed that in one part of the country, addicts seeking a place on a methadone maintenance programme were obliged to wait for one year and seven months. This is disgraceful. Today I read a report in The Irish Times that the number of heroin addicts in the south east Health Service Executive area had trebled in 2005 compared with 2004. The picture is the same throughout the country and the sad reality is that we do not have the treatment services to deal with a problem of this scale. The Government has sat back and allowed the drug problem to escalate because it is not prepared to put in place the structures necessary to meet the challenges presented by growing drug abuse.

I call on the Minister of State and his Cabinet colleagues to get their heads out of the sand and give this problem the commitment it deserves. We need political leadership to deal with the problem. The Minister of State simply chooses to ignore that we have a problem. He would rather insist that we are making progress when it is clear we are moving backwards. The problem will only be tackled by committing the resources to our police force, to our treatment and prevention services and to our communities at the coalface of the problem.

The Government's paralysis in tackling drug misuse creates the impression that Ireland is soft on drugs, which is sending out the wrong message. It is undermining efforts to curb drug misuse. I urge the Minister of State and his Government colleagues to take the extent of our drugs problem seriously. We need to introduce measures immediately which make it clear to all that we will not tolerate drug dealing at any level in society and that the supports needed by misusers, their families and their communities are available to allow them overcome their addiction. If we fail to do so the drug barons will continue to hold our justice system to ransom and destroy the lives of our young and their families.

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