John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy asked an interesting question about the possibility of an increase in drug use during the recession. All I can say is that it depends on the evidence one examines. The pattern of drug use often changes as economic conditions change. The use of cocaine in affluent areas increased during the economic boom. During a recession, there is often an increase in heroin use in disadvantaged areas. I wish to compare the current strategy to the original strategy. The original strategy was primarily based in disadvantaged parts of the country that are associated with high levels of heroin use, whereas the current strategy recognises that we are dealing with a national problem.

Deputy Stanton also spoke about funding. As a result of the recent supplementary budget, the amount of money that is available through the task forces this year will probably be a little lower than the amount of money that was available last year. We are currently preparing figures in advance of advising the task forces on the funds that will be made available to them for the second six months of the year. The Deputy pointed out that there are ten programmes in his local area. As I do not have details on them to hand, I will make a general comment. The strategy supports approximately 600 projects throughout the country. They are funded from my Department through the various task forces. I cannot guarantee that they will all remain as they are at present. It is very important that they are evaluated on an ongoing basis to make sure they are performing and delivering the programmes that are needed in communities. I have some concerns about this area. If we are spending money on a project that is not delivering in an area, some other opportunity is being lost. In the current economic climate, everybody has to work a bit harder for the scarce resources that are available.

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