Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

Will the Taoiseach clarify which Minister or Minister of State is responsible for drugs policy and the implementation of the national drugs strategy? In his reshuffle of Ministers of State at the end of April, did the Taoiseach downgrade the focused ministerial drugs post from Minister of State with responsibility for the national drugs strategy to Minister of State with special responsibility for integration and community, with no reference to drugs in the title? The dilution of the post happened weeks prior to the demise of the national drugs strategy team, NDST, and the expiration of its staff contracts, which had been already decreed by Government.

Does the Taoiseach recall that the justification for the dissolution of the NDST was that a super-junior Minister with sole responsibility for drugs would be appointed? Instead, the post regressed to its pre-2007 unfocused status.

Alarming cases are daily described in the media of whole communities suffering at the hand of people in the, so called, drugs business. Dolphin's Barn is a very recent case in point. Does the Taoiseach not appreciate that against that backdrop, this decision is a worrying indicator of the Government's winding down of its previously stated commitment to press ahead with the implementation of the national drugs strategy and to combat head-on those responsible for the introduction and distribution of drugs throughout the country?

See this speech in context