Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

We acknowledge the point the Minister of State made on the success with treatment, specifically methadone. However, in terms of hard drugs, there is now much more cocaine than methadone coming in. Hovering in the background all the time is the prospect that crack cocaine could become more plentiful.

Regarding the link between drug use and violent crime, the figures in the report show that 28% of detected crime in 2004 was related to drug users, while the figure was 66% in 1997, so clearly there is a significant movement. The author of the report points in the direction of increased employment and greater availability of treatment as a possible explanation. Does the Minister of State agree with the finding of the report that the social environment was a more powerful contributor than the effect of drugs on an individual in terms of whether the person used violence?

The RAPID programme was mentioned. The consultants' evaluation contained a criticism directed towards the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and FÁS in terms of the difficulty in accessing money for training, education and employment courses. I know the Minister of State was a little distracted when about to make his reply, but would he or the Minister favour approaching FÁS and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, to seek an incentive scheme for employers to employ people from RAPID areas? In other words, the employers would not need to be in the RAPID areas but the employees would come from there, because it seems from the statistics that in the context of providing additional employment, the violence aspect of drug use can be reduced.

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