Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not want merely to deal with words. I know of few people in this country who speak with the voice that the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, does about social disadvantage and what can be done about it. She is the newly appointed Minister of State with responsibility for drugs and will lead on the drugs strategy. She will liaise with the local drugs task forces. There will be proper public consultation. There will be a proper strategy for drugs before the end of the year and that involves consultation.

The first period of the previous Government was spent dealing with an unprecedented economic catastrophe. We have now moved to a different place. We need to have the resources to invest in communities and people. That is why we have been able to put more into the facilities for gardaí to do their job which had been neglected for a very long time. It is not where it should be but it is better than it was. In answer to my questioning about the level of resources being given to the Garda Commissioner and the assistant Garda commissioner, they tell me they have what they need. I will deal with that again at 7 p.m. today. Now I am interested in seeing that those children, parents and young people are given some sense of aspiration, hope and confidence. We can only do that by working together. That is why the new Minister of State with responsibility for drugs has my full support in the way that she knows, as a public representative and a former Lord Mayor of the city, what it takes and will take to get communities focused on where we know they can be and remove that social disadvantage. Yes, it will take investment, consultation and community leadership, but that is all there and those ingredients are there if we only apply ourselves in a way that I know we can and, I hope, will.

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