Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The announcement seemed to be made at a very opportune time. I would like the Minister of State to explain what the €1 million means. Does it mean that each task force will receive €41,000? What will I say to Councillor Malachy Quinn who is our representative on the north Fingal task force? I commend the work done by the task force which serves a population of 300,000. I believe it has the youngest population in the State. We see the damage the misuse of drugs causes in communities. We also see the possibilities young people have to transform themselves if they are given a hand-up or offered an alternative. Unfortunately, if we do not have the resources or the personnel required, young people will end up going down the road of drug misuse. We need to look at the facts. The level of drug related harm and the number of drug related deaths are increasing. The number of convictions for personal drug use is also increasing. What about the drug dealers? The number of convictions for drug dealing is not keeping pace with it. This shows that the focus is not where it should be placed. If we want to talk about decriminalisation, we should do so. We are talking about decriminalisation, rather than legalisation. Decriminalisation would take away the stigma and focus on the people who need attention. The facts speak for themselves. I have seen in my community the devastating impact of drugs. I wonder how serious the Government is about tackling the scourge of drug misuse. I know that Councillor Quinn and other members of the task force, including the chairperson, are deadly serious about tackling it. They are fighting might and main and working night and day to tackle it, but they need real and meaningful support from the Government. They need multi-annual funding. They need to know how much they will receive next year as they need to be able to put plans in place. If we do not do this, we will simply keep going back to the same place and see young people's lives ruined and communities destroyed.

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