Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

From what the Minister of State is saying, does it follow that if the recommendation from Dublin North East Drugs Task Force is strongly in favour of the proposal from Howth-Sutton Community Council, whatever resources are necessary and made available to the Minister of State will be made available for the project? In other words, could there not be additional resources given that the €110,000 for 2012 and which would have been spent on the old project was not spent? I presume the Department was able to return the money to the Exchequer. Is the bottom line that the Minister of State will not have funding if he gets the recommendation?

The Minister of State referred to the audit of the earlier project. Does he agree that there is an ongoing need for the programme of prevention of drug and alcohol abuse, as outlined by Howth-Sutton Community Council and as strongly indicated in the detailed research which was excellently put together by Mr. Niall Waters? Does the Minister of State accept that there is a clear need, as outlined in the paper he would have read? Before making any final decision, will he liaise with the Department of Justice and Equality, the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Children? Those Departments, through the local schools and the youth project being run in conjunction with the relevant authorities in Swords, and the outstanding gardaí in Raheny and Howth, would also be very supportive of the proposal.

It is very interesting that the proposal includes a reference to alcohol. When will the Government bring forward the sale of alcohol Bill? What has the Minister of State decided on the question of having a minimum alcohol price? Can we expect an announcement on this?

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