Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)

It appears funding is at the top of everybody's agenda. Last week, we heard loudly and clearly from the streets the response from the community sector to local drugs task forces, after school projects and community employment schemes. While I am aware the Minister of State does not have a crystal ball it is important these groups know what funding will be available to them into the future.

The national drugs strategy report, which comprises 125 pages, lists what the statutory groups want for communities into the future and sets out what response is needed in the current crisis. The Minister of State stated that the drugs problem has changed. I agree that it has changed; it has worsened. In every community young people are getting involved on a daily basis in drug abuse. Many young people are dying because of drugs. We heard in the statement made last week by Tony Geoghegan of the Merchant's Quay project that each week 20 new people involved in drug misuse attend the services. I attended the launch of the report and I listened carefully to what the Minister of State had to say. I was struck by one of his comments, about which I was very angry. We are proud, as a nation, of our tradition of giving to communities, particularly in the Third World, and I was disappointed to hear the Elton John AIDS Foundation had to provide €750,000 towards needle exchange services in this country. I am sure there are other charities in England and elsewhere that are more needy than ours, and the Government has failed to put money into the national drugs strategy. It is a glossy document and it does not indicate to me or to the community at large what will happen in the future to many of our young people.

I refer to a statement about homelessness in the report. What plans has the Minister of State under the strategy to involve more volunteers who are the voices of communities rather than paid officials in deciding what is needed in their communities and how the problem can be tackled? Many of them are being left on the outside.

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