John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Ring for his support. In regard to threats of resignations in community groups or task forces, nobody has brought that to my attention. During the deliberation process of formulating the new strategy, the community group representatives walked away from the steering committee. I met them and they had a number of specific concerns which we addressed. They are now back in the steering group and are engaging fully with it. They had a different view in regard to the establishment of an office for a minister of drugs or whatever.

We must bear in mind that to tackle the drugs issue, the community and voluntary sectors and all the statutory agencies must take a partnership approach. They recognise that there must be a compromise on the views of all concerned. I am very pleased the community sector has re-engaged with the deliberation process.

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