Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are a number of commitments in the programme for Government on tackling the drug scourge in our society. One involves the introduction of injection centres in Dublin, and the other relates to the publication of a drugs strategy. Everyone in this House would unite around the common cause to tackle this issue because it has destroyed many families and communities, particularly those who have become addicted, and also led to a spiral in gangland crime.

The Government needs a cohesive, concerted plan on how to tackle the increased availability and use of heroin and other illicit drugs across cities and also in towns in rural Ireland. Anyone who read this morning's Irish Examinerwould be aware of the harrowing account of the Kidney family in Bandon, County Cork, in which Mrs. Kidney tells the story of losing her three sons through heroin addiction over the past three years. It was shocking and deeply sad for the family but also revealing in terms of the prevalence of the heroin scourge the length and breadth of the country.

There is a need to go back to the original initiatives taken in the late 1990s and early 2000s with local drugs task forces, which worked on a community integrated basis to deal with the issue in all its aspects and at all levels. I ask the Taoiseach to indicate to me the actions that have been taken following the publication of the national drugs strategy in that regard.

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