Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)

The Minister of State finished on time, despite spending a considerable amount of time off-script. It shows, at least, that he is interested in the drugs problem and is probably aware of how serious it is. He is probably quietly ashamed of the Government in this regard, as I am. One of the biggest failures of the two parties in Government over the last ten years is the outright mess that exists as regards drugs. In that respect I certainly agree with the motion tabled by the Independent Deputies and I will touch on a few facts and figures, accordingly.

The position regarding drugs is a disaster. The Minister of State talked about the need to be brave, and I agree with him. I do not agree with what that doctor said. I accept he wants a debate about it and the matter needs to be highlighted and talked about. The Government does not do this sufficiently. The Minister of State is not brave enough to have a realistic debate about drugs. He said "We must address the issue in a realistic and measured way which takes account of the extent, complexity and multifaceted nature of the problem." We did not have that from the Minister of State who is far from reality every time he talks to the House about drugs and what the Government is doing about it. That is the problem.

It would be very brave of him to come in here and face the facts so we might have a good discussion about how we might work together to solve the problem. That is not happening. Not enough is being done interdepartmentally and among leaders of society as regards saying how dangerous is the drug threat. It is almost a taboo subject. The Minister of State is almost the only person on the Government side who ever talks about drugs. It should be uppermost in the mind of every Minister to try to deter people from going down the drugs route. There is no interdepartmental effort as regards drugs. The Department of Health and Children has virtually disappeared when it comes to tackling drugs. Still, the Minister of State asks people to be brave.

This is one of the massive failures of the Government. I shall correct the Minister as regards one figure, since we were attempting to clarify how much had been spent. He mentioned €200 million. He appears to have jumped €5 million in the last week. He answered a question last week to the effect that the figure was up to €195 million, so that €5 million seems to have arrived out of nowhere. The Minister of State in reply to a question as regards drugs said: "Overall, I am satisfied that current Government expenditure on drugs is sufficient to meet the needs of those involved in tackling the effects and misuse of drugs." That is a joke, which is proven by the fact Ireland is ranked towards the top of the European drug league for cocaine and Ecstasy use according to a UN report in 2005 — not 20 years ago when the Minister of State is convinced this drugs problem started. The problem has to be fixed now. The World Drug Report 2005 puts Ireland in joint third place for cocaine use and joint sixth place for Ecstasy use out of 230 states. Ireland had a higher annual drugs prevalence rate than the world average for four of the main five illegal drugs. As regards Europe, Ireland is above the average for three of the five drugs, cannabis, Ecstasy and the opiates, mainly heroin.

Irish teenagers are much more likely to use cannabis than their counterparts in other European countries, according to a Government report. An Oireachtas committee report published earlier this year found that 38% of Irish 16-year olds have used cannabis at least once. As many as 5,000 16-year olds admit to using the drug at least thee times per month, double the EU average. The Oireachtas report also found that as many as 300,000 people regularly used cannabis, with 10% admitting to being dependent on the drug. That is the reality and the Minister of State says he is happy with what the Government is doing and with the money being spent in this area. If we do not seriously tackle the issue the only culture many people will know in Ireland will be a drug culture. That is how serious the problem is. Parents do not realise yet how serious it is, because the reality of the drug problem is being down played deliberately by the Government and hidden at every turn. That is a shame because I do not think the Minister of State believes matters are as good as he says they are. He knows how bad things are but is not allowed to say it, and that is even more of a shame. We must face reality or the problem will never be tackled properly.

Let us examine some of the targets of the national drugs strategy: a reduction of 0.5% in 2007 in the estimated prevalence of opiates, based on the 2001 data; a reduction of 5% by 2007 in the prevalence rate of recent and current use of illicit drugs in the general population based on the 2002-03 rate; substance use policies in place in 100% of schools; and early school leaving in local drug task force areas to reduce by 10%, based on the 2005-06 data. It appears unlikely that three of these four targets will be reached. They were not even mentioned. The Minister of State only referred to one of them, concerning schools and substance abuse, which was a start. I have only picked four items from the drugs strategy. The Minister of State had half an hour to tell the House how well we were succeeding, and he did not do that. Instead, we got a lecture probably written by the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, in relation to his Garda figures. Again, it was more waffle about how great the money is and how much it has increased over the last couple of years.

He said the amounts being spent on Garda resources were historic. We are living in historic times. The population has grown seriously in the last couple of years. Do we even realise what is happening in the greater Dublin region? The Minister, Deputy McDowell, does not leave Dublin. He would not know what is happening outside it.

In my town, Navan, there are less gardaí now than there were 23 years ago, yet the population is three times what it was. That is historic, and we need an historic amount spent in that regard. The Minister of State need not quote the increased Garda budget to me as the solution to the drugs crisis.

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