Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The issue the Deputy raises is very important and I commend all the agencies and organisations working with the Garda and CAB to detect, intercept and deal with those in the business of providing drugs, and those agencies and organisations which work with those who suffer the consequences of drug addiction, use and abuse.

The Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, with responsibility for housing, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, attended a Cabinet sub-committee on Monday where there was an intensive response from Dublin City Council on homelessness. I can give Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan the details of that.

I do not have all the facts and figures for the agencies the Deputy mentioned. Irrespective of cutbacks, it has been possible for agencies and departmental staff to attend the meetings where decisions are made. Deputy O’Sullivan mentioned cutbacks of 38% in some areas. If she gives me the details she is presenting, I will arrange for it to be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee which deals specifically with this, the national drug strategy, local organisations and agencies dealing with drugs and their consequences, to see if we can make an impact taking into account some of the issues the Deputy raises.

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