Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

The Merchant's Quay Ireland report published in September states that since the recession began heroin use has reached record levels. The former Governor of Mountjoy Prison said we are sleep walking into a national disaster and that there are more drugs in Mountjoy Prison than there are sweets in a tuck shop, which is a cause for concern. During the last recession Dublin was decimated by drugs. The same story is now unfolding across the country. The allocation in terms of drugs funding last year was €300 million. While funding for 2010 has been reduced it is nonetheless a significant sum.

I ask that the Government consider the situation a crisis and that it consider all funding in the context of ensuring a crisis response to it.

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