Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for his comments. I accept the needle exchange was a weakness in the operation of the strategy. While a number of centres in Dublin have needle exchange programmes, they tend to operate for only a couple of days per week or for only part of the day. Too many people, therefore, were coming to one or two main centres in the city centre. The HSE has provided extra money this year for extra services in that regard.

With regard to the Deputy's remarks about Cork, some towns and cities have a different philosophy. Some places deliberately try to adopt a drug-free approach. That is up to each local or regional drugs task force. However, one must accept reality. What one likes is one thing but it is important to provide services to people from a harm reduction point of view. I accept that, until recently, people outside Dublin who had a drug problem had to come to Dublin every day. Since we established the regional drugs task forces, they have helped the HSE to provide services at local level. That is the reason people can say that the number of people using services in, for example, Carlow or Portlaoise has increased by 300%. It has, because services are now being provided there and they do not have to come to Dublin to the extent they did previously. It is an ongoing battle.

I accept there are drugs in other parts of the country. The services are being provided. The situation is not perfect yet but we are getting there. With regard to the bus, was the Deputy referring to the inner city?

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