Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the money the task forces will receive, as the Minister of State outlined. It is evident that the task forces have lost a significant number of personnel. This money will not go near helping to keep those people on board because since 2008, the funding has been cut by up to 38% and we are nowhere near restoring that. While the increased money is welcome, the Finglas Cabra drugs task force is probably the least well-funded task force in Dublin. Most of them received €10,000 each last year. The problem is that it nearly took more to administer that. We needed much more to cater for the different problems we had with staff and getting new projects up and running. We have lost projects as a result of the lack of funding in recent years. We need a major injection of funding. While the amount the Minister of State mentioned is welcome, it goes nowhere near solving the problem.

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