Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

As I have not spoken on the issue of drugs since the last general election, I would like to start by congratulating the Minister of State, Deputy Pat Carey, who is now responsible for the national drugs strategy. I wish him well with the task he faces. Like most of us who are present in the Chamber for this debate, he represents a constituency with many communities that are suffering from the disease which is the misuse of drugs. We are familiar with the devastation caused by drugs in many communities. Drugs are often at the root of the criminal behaviour that is wreaking havoc in some parts of Dublin and other cities throughout the country. This debate is important, therefore. If the Minister of State wishes to bring new energy to the national drugs strategy, he should listen to Deputies on all sides of the House. That energy is required because we are at a new stage.

My constituency colleague, Deputy O'Connor, was kind enough to remind the House that I established the national drugs strategy in 1996. If I make one point during this debate, it is that the success of the strategy since 1996, under the stewardship of those who succeeded me, such as the former Minister of State, Chris Flood, has been built on partnership between statutory agencies and community organisations. The achievements that have undoubtedly been recorded as a result of the strategy can be attributed to such co-operation.

I worry, therefore, when people who are involved with community organisations, most of whom have garnered extraordinary experience at the coalface, tell me that the partnership approach is being undermined in some areas. Such people feel there is a reversion to the time when the statutory agencies sought to control the strategy in that the agencies are starting to assert themselves in certain areas once more and trying to diminish the role of community representatives. For example, the agencies are not as responsive to the community organisations as they should be. They are starting to veto new ideas and thwart initiatives. In some instances, the statutory agencies are beginning to send people of a lower rank than used to be the case — I do not mean they are necessarily of a lower calibre — to participate in drugs task forces. The impression being formed by some community representatives is that those involved with the agencies are not really engaging with them in the same fashion as their predecessors did in the early years of the national drugs strategy.

I can give a tangible example of the point I am making. I am advised that there is a palpable desire on the part of the Health Service Executive to take control of the needle exchange programme. The HSE wants to deal with it on an outreach basis, to the exclusion of some of the community treatment centres. A community treatment centre in my constituency that runs a successful needle exchange programme funds its activities from the pockets of those who run it. The programme helps to clean the detritus of syringes etc., which can be found around the place. That is my net point.

I would like to respond to the comment Deputy Dooley made in passing about recent events in Waterford. The case in question seems to bring home to all of us the need to put more emphasis on harm reduction strategies. We need to send out a message, by means of public advertising, for example, to communicate our acceptance, whether we like it or not, that this kind of drugs misuse event happens all too commonly when young people gather in our towns, villages and cities. We must acknowledge that this is a harsh fact of modern life and that we ought to address it with harm-reduction strategies and so bring the problem to the attention of young people.

I wish to say a word of deserved praise for the HSE's support of the cocaine project. I ask the Minister of State to outline the funding available up to 2008 and to say what will be the situation after 2008 because it takes a lot of time, investment and energy to build up a strategy.

Is there any plan to share the Dublin experience with other communities? Parts of the country are still resistant to admitting there is a drugs problem in their midst. I find it disturbing that clients are returning to Tallaght who may have relocated or been relocated to different parts of the country. They are returning because there is no service for them. This highlights the necessity for us to share the valuable experience we have garnered.

Will the Minister of State say whether there has been an increase in HIV-AIDS? I am advised there has been and that it needs to be addressed.

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