John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy is well aware of the financial situation. In advance of the previous budgets we had meetings with the Minister for Finance and we will do so again in advance of this year's budget. The establishment of the office of the Minister for drugs will have one significant effect, namely, it will allow greater governance. This has been raised before by the Committee of Public Accounts. It will also allow for more effective spending of funding in this area, which is considerable at €266 million.

We are constantly considering new and innovative ways of dealing with the drugs problem, whose seriousness I recognise. There is a difference between the current strategy and the previous one because, over time, what had previously been a Dublin issue has become a national issue. One key focus in the new strategy will be to increase the range of services outside the Dublin area, in particular, where the problems of providing treatment and rehabilitation are greater.

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