Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

The new machine is able to scan 40-foot trucks.

On the drugs education and awareness side, substance misuse prevention programmes are now included on the curriculums of all schools. The process of planning for a new drug awareness campaign, which is being co-ordinated by the population health directorate of the HSE, is under way. On the treatment side, the central treatment list recorded at the end of July 2006 that 8,118 people were availing of treatment. In addition, a vast range of clients who do not depend on opiates are availing of the HSE's counselling and rehabilitation services. Since the start of the strategy, there has been a significant increase in the number of people on methadone and in treatment. We are ensuring that more and more people are receiving treatment.

A number of positive messages are emerging from the research results. The recent research outcome study in Ireland, which was commissioned by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs, highlighted the positive and tangible benefits of the provision of such treatment. The study followed 400 people who were availing of drugs services. They were interviewed after six months and again after 12 months. Significant improvements were recorded in their health and their awareness of the dangers of drugs. They were not sharing paraphernalia to the same extent, they were not using the same quantities of drugs and they were not involved in crime to the same extent. There were very significant improvements in the lives of the 400 people in question. The study, which was professionally organised by the drugs advisory committee, made it clear that treatment does work and is working. The drug prevalence study, which was undertaken by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs in 2003, indicated the number of people using heroin in the greater Dublin area had decreased since 1996.

I do not have any degree of complacency because, as all of us know, it is not easy to tackle the drugs problem. It is an ongoing challenge, especially as the drugs situation is dynamic and changing. Our policies need to be flexible to meet those changes. Some difficulties and problems still have to be faced, of course. The level of progress is not always as quick as the Government would like it to be. It is important, in any debate, to recognise the progress which has been made has resulted from co-operation and partnership. The communities are central to that process. Many of the ideas which have been pursued and the programmes which are in operation have originated from people in the communities. The essence of local drugs task forces is that ideas do not just come down from on high — they come from community people on the ground. Approximately 650 people who started as activists are now in full-time jobs. They are working on ideas and programmes on the drugs side and on the young people's side. Such ideas started at local community level. There is no point in anyone trying to pretend that such people are not making a significant commitment.

I would like to turn my attention to the specific measures we are undertaking as part of the drug-supply reduction area of the strategy. Drugs law enforcement is a key feature in our overall drug policy framework. The Government's top policing priority for 2006 continues to be the targeting of organised crime, including drug trafficking and the gun culture with which it is associated.

The Garda Síochána has never been as well resourced financially with the 2006 budget reaching an historic high of €1.31 billion. In particular, the 2006 overtime allocation has risen to €83.5 million which represents an increase of more than 36% above the allocation of €61.1 million for 2005. This increase will allow the Garda Síochána to further intensify its crime detection and investigation capabilities.

The personnel strength of the Garda was recorded at a record level of 12,762 on Friday, 8 September 2006 following the attestation of 249 new members. The increase in numbers which has been achieved will permit senior Garda management to deploy these extra resources to target areas of concern. Areas with a significant drug problem will be deemed a particular priority.

Significant resources are also being invested in technology for the Garda to assist its members in exercising of their functions. The capital allocation for IT in 2006 is over €33 million and the allocation for communications is just under €13 million. This demonstrates the resolute commitment of the Government to invest in the criminal justice system. This increased Garda manpower and additional funding resources will enable the continuation of successful anti-crime measures to tackle drug trafficking and dealing as seen in Operations Anvil, Cleanstreet, Encounter, Nightcap and Marigold.

This Government's approach to policing, as has often been emphasised by the Tánaiste, has always been about more than resources alone and has attached significant importance to the development of a real partnership between the Garda Síochána, the local authorities and the communities they serve. The introduction of the new joint policing committees and local policing fora, which will be coming on stream under the implementation of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, will realise this on a statutory basis.

I would like to use this opportunity to acknowledge the work being done over the last number of years in this regard by the community policing fora which are already in place in the local drug task force areas. Some of these fora are official but many others operate informally and count Deputies in this House as members. Much good work has been done and this will grow as such groups adopt an official status.

The House should be aware that Garda strategies for dealing with drug offences continue to seriously undermine the activities of organised criminals involved in the trafficking and distribution of illicit drugs. Investigations carried out under these strategies have led to the arrest in recent times of major criminals based both here and abroad and I can assure the House that the Garda will continue to vigorously pursue such strategies.

The House should be advised that the tackling of organised crime and drug trafficking is primarily achieved through the use of specialist units and targeted, intelligence-led operations. National units such as the Garda national drugs unit, the Criminal Assets Bureau and the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation all have specific roles in reducing drug supply and the material benefits which accrue from drug trafficking. The Garda national drugs unit also works closely with divisional and district drug units in detecting and preventing the sale of illegal drugs.

It is important in this debate to put on record the continued operational successes of both the Garda Síochána and the Customs and Excise in preventing large quantities of drugs arriving in our communities. Both agencies should be commended on their efforts in this regard in continuing to meet and exceed the drug supply reduction targets set in the national strategy.

A number of law enforcement initiatives should be highlighted during this debate for the role they play in disrupting the criminal activities of a number of key criminal gangs and families including those involved in the drugs trade. Operation Anvil is working well and has already led to a number of high profile arrests and the collection of intelligence on the movements of criminals targeted under special initiatives arising from this operation. This is an intelligence-led policing initiative, the focus of which is the targeting of active criminals and their associates involved in serious crime. The initiative aims to prevent and disrupt criminal activity through extensive additional overt patrolling and static check points by uniform, mobile and foot patrols supported by armed plain clothes patrols. The operation remains in place in the Dublin Metropolitan Region and has been extended nationwide in 2006.

Outside the Dublin Metropolitan Region, a series of special operations, prepared by senior Garda managers and designed to focus on areas and incidents of high crime, are also in place.

In addition, the Garda Commissioner, in November 2005, augmented the organised crime unit at the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation with an additional 55 gardaí to address the problem of criminal gang activity. Operations carried out by the unit have resulted in firearms being seized and a number of persons arrested, thereby disrupting their criminal activities. The Criminal Assets Bureau continues to act as an effective element of our overall enforcement efforts against those involved in organised criminality including drug trafficking. The most recent report on the agency's work, in 2005, demonstrates its effectiveness.

In terms of ensuring that we have robust legislation in place to deal with the threat of drug trafficking, it should be noted that it is already often acknowledged that our legislative package for tackling serious and organised crime is already one of the toughest in Europe.

The Criminal Justice Act, recently approved by this House, provides a further comprehensive package of anti-crime measures which will help enhance the powers of the Garda in the investigation and prosecution of offences. A number of specific provisions in the Act of relevance to this debate include the creation of criminal offences regarding organised crime, the strengthening of provisions on the imposition of the ten year mandatory minimum sentence for drug trafficking, new offences of supplying drugs to prisons and the provision for the establishment of a drug offenders register.

In terms of the issues which have been raised on the motion that come under the remit of Revenue's customs service, again we should firstly acknowledge the ongoing operational successes against drug trafficking which the customs authorities continue to achieve.

The reported recent seizure in Belgium of 50 kg of heroin, the arrest of three Irish nationals and the seizure of an aircraft based at Weston Aerodrome is a matter of major concern to the Government. The Minister for Finance has been assured that the Revenue's customs service is continually engaged in the analysis and evaluation of seizure trends, routes and smuggling risks and consequential resource deployment. Given the scale of international travel, all customs operations are risk-focused and staff are deployed to combat areas of risk on an intelligence led basis.

The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs has also been advised that the monitoring of licensed aerodromes in the State by the Revenue Commissioners is in line with international standards. However, in light of the concerns raised by the Weston incident, the Revenue Commissioners are reviewing the risks attached to the operation of all licensed aerodromes in the State and have initiated an immediate review of the conditions under which approval is granted to licensed aerodromes. Furthermore this review will examine options for improving the level of control and prior reporting of arrivals from EU and non-EU countries. The Government has no intention of resting on its laurels in tackling the ongoing drugs problem. We will continue to address it in an integrated way under our national drugs strategy using the solid partnership between the statutory, voluntary treatment and community sectors. In my capacity as Minister of State responsible for the strategy, I must say good work is being done in partnership with the communities.

The strategy has been in place since 2001 and the local drugs task forces were set up in 1997 and 1998. There were 14 initially, as is still the case, and they include 12 in Dublin, one in Bray and one in Cork. In the past eight or nine years, we have spent over €100 million directly through the 14 local drugs task forces. The ten regional drugs task forces, which have been operating for the past year or so, are covering a much larger area. The plans they have submitted have been approved and are to be rolled out over a two-year or three-year period. These task forces received their first allocation of funding this year and now have full-time co-ordinators doing the relevant work.

The Department's young people's facilities and services fund addresses the question of prevention and is responsible for a marvellous amount of good work. Many less well-off suburbs of Dublin built in the 1960s and 1970s and inner-city developments had very poor facilities for young people. Too often one hears young people saying there is nothing to do, which to them is an excuse for getting involved in drugs. To date, the Government has spent over €100 million to provide facilities in disadvantaged areas. Capital funding has resulted in more sports and youth facilities and there are now many staff, including sports development officers and youth workers, helping to divert youths from drug-taking and to offer them healthy lifestyle alternatives.

The local drugs task forces and the young people's facilities and services fund have led to the employment of 650 staff. They represent a great resource and, while some say it is not enough, seven to nine years ago not many people were asked how many workers they believed would be necessary on the ground to try to deal adequately with the drugs problem. The 650 staff are not employed on a statutory basis but employed in 400 odd projects, the ideas for which emerged from local communities and the local drugs task forces. They are doing a lot of work.

Some €14 million has been spent on the premises fund to date and it helps to provide accommodation for drug treatment services. Today I opened a project in Ballymun which had received approximately €1.4 million through the fund to provide facilities for staff and their clients with drug problems. The projects that existed previously in Ballymun were in basement flats and it is therefore good to see the staff and clients are now in very modern office accommodation. There is no reason somebody who happens to have a drugs problem should not be treated well.

The emerging needs fund started small and was originally intended to fund new projects to combat cocaine use. However, it ultimately funded 67 projects and another €4 million has been committed. The ideas for the projects came from the community.

This year's budget under the drugs head in the Estimates of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs amounted to €43 million, which represents an increase of approximately 36% or 37% over the figure for last year. Very few budget heads in any Department refer to increases of over 30% in a given year. The aforementioned sum is not the only sum being spent on combating drugs because it represents only a very small proportion. All the programmes in the Department are pilot programmes initially and when they are evaluated they are mainstreamed and the funding is transferred to the Departments of Health and Children, Justice, Equality and Law Reform or Education and Science, or to the local authorities.

If one considers what has been mainstreamed, one will note that approximately €70 million is being spent every year on projects that began at community level. This is in addition to the €80 million or €90 million being spent by the HSE and the sums being spent by the Garda and other bodies. Over €200 million of taxpayers' money is spent per year under the four or five pillars in the fight against drugs. More may be needed but the existing provision represents a great resource.

I am often asked what we have to show for the €200 million being spent per year or whether it is just money down the drain. The ROSIE study, carried out by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs, tracked 400 people in receipt of drug services for over a year. It demonstrated that after a year, they had benefited in a very positive way from the services on offer. Some of them had come off drugs and some had not, but a very high percentage of those who had not were using fewer drugs and were much more conscious of the health risks they posed. They were much more aware of the danger of sharing needles and other paraphernalia and were involved in far fewer crimes. Generally, they were getting their act together so they could make a contribution to their families and communities. The study showed clearly that drug treatment works.

We all have a responsibility to encourage drug services in our communities and to be brave occasionally. Recently, a certain election candidate for Fine Gael in Dublin West, who is a doctor, no less——

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