Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)

The drugs crisis is now endemic. Neglect by successive Governments in the past 25 years has fuelled this social disaster. It was ignored while it was confined to inner city disadvantaged communities. However, it is now a countrywide problem and the Government response is both too little and far too late.

Many of the Irish drug dealers of the 1980s and 1990s have become major international drug traffickers and are based in Amsterdam, Liverpool and Alicante. They are flooding this country with cocaine, heroin and other drugs. The State failed to deal with them then and cannot get near them now. In addition, Nigerian non-nationals are developing a frightening crack cocaine distribution network in Dublin's north inner city. Crack cocaine is beginning to be used in many disadvantaged drug-smitten communities.

The Government should stop congratulating itself, as it has in its amendment. Its offensive amendment should be withdrawn. In particular, it should delete the laughable reference to the Minister of State at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Noel Ahern, and his so-called successful handling of the drug crisis.

I wish to pay tribute briefly to the work of Fergus McCabe, which is unequalled by anyone in the fight against drugs. It speaks volumes that someone as totally dedicated as Mr. McCabe was obliged to resign from the drugs strategy team of the Minister of State at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Noel Ahern.

On a number of occasions in this House, I have raised the Government commitment to rehabilitation measures, such as it is. There is an excellent training and development project in the north-west inner city based around the old markets area, which works with people who had serious heroin addiction problems. This project, based on a FÁS scheme, has done the requisite groundwork and has reached a stage at which it could be of great benefit to recovering addicts. However, it is imperative that project should receive the funding required to employ three full-time personnel with the skills and expertise to fully implement the rehabilitation process. Contrary to the claims of the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern, the project does not want three additional staff. It wants three full-time professional staff, who are unavailable to it under a FÁS scheme. For the present, the necessary funds could come from the emerging needs fund. In future, after the project has been allowed to prove itself, its status could be regularised by the Health Service Executive or an appropriate agency. If the Government and the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern, were as committed as they claim to focussing on rehabilitation, they would recognise the project's importance. Instead however, the Minister of State drags his heels and misrepresents the appeals made by me and others. Shame on him.

I wish to share time with Deputies Finian McGrath, Catherine Murphy, James Breen, McHugh and Cuffe.

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