Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I reply on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern. I thank Deputy Costello for raising this matter. The Government very much welcomes and wholeheartedly supports this initiative taken by the Garda Síochána in its introduction of the "dial to stop drug dealing" project in the Garda Dublin north central division and the similar initiative on which it was based, which was led by the Blanchardstown local drug task force in its area during 2006.

Before getting into the detail of the Government's specific proposals, which will now further assist the development of such initiatives, I would like, on behalf of the Minister, to first set out the context in which this work needs to take place. First, all of us in this House are well aware that the issue of drug misuse remains one of the most pressing social problems facing us. It is, sadly, a problem experienced globally for which there is no quick and easy solution.

Given the severe harmful and destructive consequences brought about by drug abuse at individual, family and community levels, it is undoubtedly an issue on which we as a society must continue to collectively maintain a keen focus and urgency in addressing. As the Minister and many of my other Government colleagues have stated previously, the focus in our jurisdiction must be to strive constantly to ensure that the measures and policies we have in place to address the problem are appropriate and flexible enough to be able to respond to what is a global and dynamic issue.

As the House will, I am sure, appreciate, the remit of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform under the national drugs strategy is primarily, although not exclusively, in the area of drug supply reduction and drug law enforcement remains a key feature of the Government's drug policy framework. It follows that the "dial to stop drug dealing" initiatives which have emerged recently are of such particular interest to my colleague the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern.

An Garda Síochána retains primary responsibility in this regard and it will continue with the Government's full support to invoke vigorously the range of broad strategic responses it has in place to address the issue. However, any assistance which can be provided to the Garda by the public in tackling the crime of drug dealing is to be welcomed and fully encouraged.

"Dial to stop drug dealing" campaigns offer a real opportunity to deliver the integrated action to which I referred to earlier in a very pragmatic way. The Minister understands that the campaigns in Blanchardstown and Dublin's north inner city are deemed to have been successful local initiatives with feedback on their operation from the local drug task forces there, An Garda Síochána and the local community all of a supportive nature. An Garda Síochána has reported that the information generated in some of the reports made to the confidential numbers have been particularly helpful in terms of identifying new dealers, confirming existing suspicions and generally assisting police intelligence on local drug dealing activity. The campaigns have directly led to a number of arrests for drug dealing in the local areas.

The Minister also understands that during the formal evaluation of the Blanchardstown model, the gardaí in the local area particularly welcomed the sense of an increased co-operative approach between An Garda Síochána and the local community to tackling drug dealing in the area, which the campaign there appears to have generated. All of this is very positive and I am pleased to advise the House that following the success of these initiatives, the national drugs strategy team in conjunction with An Garda Síochána is currently finalising proposals to begin a national roll-out of this programme this year in conjunction with the 14 local and ten regional drug task forces.

To facilitate this, an allocation of €300,000 has been secured from dormant assets funds to proceed with this programme. On behalf of the Minister, I am pleased also to advise the House that the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is also providing additional funding of €50,000 to support this initiative. The Minister understands that the national drugs strategy team anticipates that the roll-out of this programme nationally will begin this autumn. The Minister looks forward to the implementation of this programme and he will continue to support it in every way he can.

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