John Cregan (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)

I acknowledge the co-operation of the office of the Ceann Comhairle to allow me to raise this important issue for my constituency. I also acknowledge the presence of the line Minister, Deputy Pat Carey. I am pleased he will have the opportunity to realise the significance of this disastrous decision for two community based drugs initiatives, one in Newcastle West, dealing with the greater west Limerick area. This programme has one employee. The second programme is also a community based programme and is based in Kilmallock. This covers the greater south Limerick area. It has one employee. I am unsure how many such programmes or support organisations are in place in Limerick city, Cork city or Dublin city, but I believe there are many. However, in my constituency there are two, one in Newcastle West and one in Kilmallock.

Both centres are being closed down because of difficulties with resources. I acknowledge that given the times in which we live, all statutory bodies are obliged to examine their budgets and live within their means because, unfortunately, there have been shortfalls in funding as a result of the economic situation in which we find ourselves. However, I am amazed that closing down these two programmes completely has been identified as the way to make up this shortfall.

In the case of Newcastle West, at present some 17 young people are met on a one-to-one basis. Many of these people have been referred by other State agencies, such as the probation service, Mental Health Ireland, HSE social workers and the Garda. These people have been left high and dry with no one to pick up the pieces and no support. The situation in Kilmallock is similar. I understand approximately 118 young people between the ages of 14 and 23 years were seen on a one-to-one basis between February and June 2010. This results from a referral system involving State agencies as well.

At I stated at the outset, the greatest issue is that there is no one to pick up the slack. We are continually trying to promote drug awareness. These two projects are run under the auspices of Foróige, a fantastic organisation which keeps people out of harm's way, brings them into a central place and works with them through various projects. Some months ago, I was proud when the Minister's predecessor, the Minister of State with responsibility for drug strategy, Deputy John Curran, came to the Newcastle West Foróige building and met those involved in the project. It was commendable to recognise the efforts of these people. Unfortunately, these people do not appear to have the necessary clout. We are in the sticks and we are seen as a small set-up, which is all the more reason to be supportive of such projects. There are many groups and organisations, whether statutory or voluntary, throughout cities and larger provincial towns which deal with such issues. Unfortunately, in this situation there is only one project in Newcastle West with one employee and one project in Kilmallock with one employee. At issue is the wages of two people. I am appalled and I believe it is a disgraceful decision. I fully understand that the Mid West Regional Drugs Task Force has autonomy, makes its own decisions and has been given independence. However, I appeal to the Minister to call on the relevant people to go back and look into their hearts to see if they can justify the decision taken. I am certain the task force has a substantial budget to promote drug awareness and I am disgusted, to say the least, that it has decided to go down this route. I look forward to the reply from the Minister.

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