Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

In the past ten or 12 years, we have developed the national drugs strategy, which is a co-ordinated policy across five community pillars. It is co-ordinated by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, but there is also a major involvement by a number of other Departments. These include the Department of Health and Children, the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, among others. The work is done not just by the Departments themselves, but in many cases also by a number of agencies under the remit of Departments. The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs is the co-ordinating body. A few months ago it got the Taoiseach to launch the new strategy. That must be fairly embarrassing for them now that the Department of Education and Science seems to be withdrawing its commitment to the strategy. It is in that context that I am raising this matter this evening.

Since the local drugs task forces were established over ten years ago, the system has been that different types of projects are developed locally in accordance with the needs of communities and statutory bodies. These are run as pilot programmes for between one and three years and are then evaluated. If successful, they are mainstreamed into the relevant Departments or agencies, the financial resources go with them and they become part of the existing levels of services run by those Departments. That has been the policy over the years.

We all know there is pressure with regard to next year's budget. Many Departments, programmes and agencies will have their budgets cut by 5%, 7.5%, 10% or 12.5%. That is the way of the world these days and we have to live with that. People half expect this to happen. However, it is totally different when the Department of Education and Science announces it is withdrawing from a range of projects over a two-year period. It cannot do that. It signed up to the strategy, which is Government policy and was launched by the Taoiseach a few months ago. These programmes were part of the existing level of service to which money was transferred over the years. Now t hat it is under pressure the Department seems to be retreating to its core activities of looking after primary and secondary teachers and nothing else. It cannot be allowed do that. That is unacceptable and is contrary to the strategy launched only some weeks ago.

I am speaking specifically from the point of view of my constituency, which has two local drugs task forces - in Finglas and in Ballymun. The one in Ballymun, in particular, had a large share of educational-type projects that will be affected by the cuts. The overall funding for the 12 local drugs task forces is only approximately €3.5 million, 25% of which seems to be for a number of projects in Ballymun. These are good projects. Health projects that treat drug users are important, but from a long-term sustainable point of view it is very important to get at young kids, many of whom are being reared in houses where there is a drug user or in dysfunctional families. The investment in these families at the level of provision of education programmes for young children is worthwhile.

However, now the message is coming from the Department of Education and Science that the cut for 2010 only affects non-staff level. These are all staff matters. Some of the moneys are grants to different agencies, but they are all being used to provide staff, some of whom are contract staff and some of whom are established. There is very little fat in the projects.

I say to the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, who is standing in for the Minister for Education and Science, that the Department must accept its policy is to be involved in the Government drugs strategy. It cannot run away from that because it has signed up to the policy. It used to be the case that this issue was dealt with at the Cabinet sub-committee on social inclusion. I do not know if there has been any co-ordination between that sub-committee and the Department with regard to the cuts or whether the Department has gone off on its own bat. If I receive no news on the matter tonight, I ask that the Department and its officials examine the issue over the Christmas period. Hopefully, when we come back early in the new year the Department will see to it that the work continues. If there must be a 10% cut, that is to be expected, but the Department cannot welsh on its commitments. If it is not going to do the business, it should hand back the money to the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and let that Department provide the allocation directly.

This is a cheap, shoddy and scandalous move by the Department of Education and Science. I ask the Minister of State to raise the matter directly with the Minister and try and see the issue is addressed within the next few weeks.

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