Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I accept the amendment from Fianna Fáil, whose Deputies were at the briefing by CityWide the other day. It is very practical and I welcome the fact that the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, has said she would attend the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health. CityWide should also come in along with the task forces and the HSE to drill down to what is happening with the implementation of the national drugs strategy. I also agree with the Sinn Féin amendment calling for funding for the task forces to be brought back to 2008 levels and for wage increases to be taken on board. We cannot have people working in austerity conditions when the Government is telling us we are into a recovery and are going to have more money in our pockets. There is a group of people who are putting in an awful lot of time and effort. It is their job to get their hands dirty in the community, work with their communities and bring in those instances to try to deal with them through the task forces.

The task forces were set up in 1996 to respond to the growing drugs crisis, particularly in our working-class communities. Families were nearly wiped out and we still have masses every year where those who died during those years are remembered. A criminal element was developing in our communities at the time and the murder took place of Veronica Guerin. Mr. Pat Rabbitte, who was then a Minister of State , said the Government had not listened to the communities and that their voices were missing as regards what was happening and what people were experiencing. The model of the task force was based on the principle that the growing crisis could not be tackled without the voices, knowledge and expertise of the communities identifying and responding to needs, and shaping and funding those responses to link in to State agencies, local authorities, the Garda, the health services and so on. There was a bottom-up and top-down integrated response to the issues. Although it was innovative, that model is now under threat. I do not know if the HSE is wiping someone's eye on this but there are serious problems.

The Minister of State, the task forces and CityWide all agree that the national drugs strategy is good. It is what should be done. However, CityWide is saying that because of the way it is being implemented, we are in great danger of moving away from the model of the task force. We all agree the strategy should be health-led but this should be done in a holistic way. We are talking about decriminalising the use of drugs and making the approach more health-centred. The original model is being stretched and torn apart.

The national oversight body, under its terms of reference, looks at the prioritisation and allocation of funding, whereby all agencies are supposed to participate and agree where moneys are to be distributed. The national oversight body was told recently that an allowance of a couple of million euro should be discussed and priorities agreed, and that it would distribute the money. However, in a reply to a parliamentary question, it was revealed that the HSE had already allocated the funding, ignoring the terms of reference of the national oversight body.

These agencies are not attending meetings of the strategic bodies, which poses a considerable danger.

The standing sub-committee met yesterday to agree actions by Customs and Excise and the Garda on the supply of drugs, and while there was an introduction, there was no discussion, engagement or outcome even though that is what the sub-committee is supposed to do. This flies in the face of its terms of reference, which are to oversee and monitor the responsibilities and accountability of the task forces, yet the HSE is initiating reviews and essentially ignoring the committee. These two national bodies cannot do their job under their terms of reference because the necessary information is not being provided to them and decisions are being made elsewhere, primarily by the HSE.

Like CityWide, I disagree that there is robust monitoring. Issues are being missed. It is important to point out that unless the Minister of State addresses this matter, problems will seep down into the task forces. Community representatives and various representative bodies fear that they are not being listened to, that the task forces will just become a talking shop and that, through these reviews, the HSE will control their funding and the direction they take. The Minister of State will have to deal with this issue.

The amendment does not address core funding, wages or the issues raised by CityWide. The voices of the 1990s are coming back and saying to us as politicians that something is wrong and it needs to be addressed.

I thank the parties that are supporting the motion. I hope that we can progress it and make it effective.

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