Dáil debates

Thursday, 7 March 2019

Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Motion [Private Members]

 

1:55 pm

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the motion. Our party spokesperson, Deputy Curran, has explained the rationale behind some of the amendments tabled. I speak not just as the Deputy for Dublin Fingal but as a chairperson for the north Dublin regional drugs and alcohol task force. For a bit of reality about the resources that we have, there are no local task forces in my area. There are many regional areas that do not have any other services. Our catchment area includes approximately 300,000 people. We have one counsellor for under-18s in the youngest area in the country, one family support worker, four case workers and a manager, and a HSE task force co-ordinator. We run the whole service, including education, family support, health promotion, youth services and the community care team, which we established ourselves, for €777,000 a year.

The Minister of State is right that the work has a real impact. I want to see the role of task forces strengthened. Part of strengthening that is resourcing them properly. My colleague, Deputy Curran, mentioned Portugal. It properly resourced the education, welfare and rehabilitation. That is not happening here. I welcome the Minister of State's announcement of the additional €1 million, but if that is broken down across the 24 task forces, it is approximately €41,000 each. It is not a whole hill of beans. Much of the funding up to now has been one-off funding, and while we appreciate it and use it well, it is much better to have multi-annual increases to core funding.

From my experience as chair of a very active task force, we have a good relationship with the Department and the HSE. There is good collaboration and much more can be done. I wanted to ask the Minister of State about her opening comment and her statement on community action on alcohol that came out of the last national drugs and alcohol strategy. The Minister of State has mentioned €250,000 for the implementation of that strategy, which we are doing in Dublin Fingal, as the Minister of State knows. Is that included in the €1 million? It is additional to it and that is welcome. From our calculation, we reckon that each regional task force would probably require approximately €40,000 to implement it properly. It does not go that far but it goes a certain distance.

I am short on time. All I want to put on record is, as everyone knows, that drugs and alcohol are the single biggest threat to young people in the country and State. If we are to do anything, we need to resource those on the ground who are equipped and qualified to do it. Many well-meaning people work in the area but I still think it is better to do it through a task force structure where people are qualified, trained and educated under the auspices of the HSE. I welcome that Independents 4 Change have tabled this motion, that the Minister of State will attend the committee, and the announcements of some additional funding. I am speaking as someone who looks after a catchment of 300,000 people for €777,000. We can do a hell of a lot more with more resources.

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