John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague, Deputy Curran, for bringing forward this Private Members' motion. I have heard the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, speak here on many occasions on this and many other topics. I have no doubt about her personal commitment to this, and her own personal experience and background in it. I echo the Minister of State's comments in relation to her officials who no doubt work tirelessly on this. What is missing is leadership. There is clearly no appetite on the part of the Government to invest the kind of resources that are necessary to not only solve this problem but to assist and support those who are trying to address it and those who are trying to make better the lives of those who are affected by it, be it either the drug users or alcohol users themselves, and their families who are subject, as the Minister of State will be aware, to everything from debt intimidation to all the anti-social and other associated issues that come with being connected with drug misuse.

When can the Ceann Comhairle, who is here much longer than I, remember nine previous Ministers for anything coming together to combine and make a statement expressing their deep disappointment at the Government's approach to the drugs issue? It is not a personal issue about the Minister of State, but I refer to nine previous Ministers with responsibility, including my colleague, Deputy Curran, and at least two other former Fianna Fáil Ministers of State, but by no means exclusively former Fianna Fáil Ministers of State - a former Labour Party leader was among them. What is crying out to me is that the Government does not take it seriously.

I am a member of my local drugs and alcohol task force in Tallaght. I note Deputy Curran is in Clondalkin and our colleague, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is in Fingal. We see the work of the projects and the groups and how they are the glue that holds the little fabric of their communities together in terms of the supportive work they do. The Minister of State will be very familiar with them. There is no Government representative sitting on the Tallaght drugs task force attending meetings. There are five Deputies and three of us attend. There are two Government Deputies but they do not attend Tallaght drugs task force meetings, and they never have.

Time is so limited. If there are even a few members of the public watching, I would say to them that one of the difficulties with Dáil speaking time is that while all my colleagues would like to expend a great deal more time on this debate, we are limited by the structures of the Dáil that enable Members from smaller groupings make more extended speeches on it.

I will focus on two issues. I commend all the work that those associated with the Tallaght drugs task force do in my community stretching from Tallaght to Whitechurch. As well as the drugs squads, I commend the local gardaí in Tallaght who have made significant findings.

I will focus on a couple of figures. The north-inner city area gets close to €2.5 million in funding. The south-inner city gets more than €2 million. Tallaght, which has a population of 150,000 and is the size of Limerick, gets half of what those drugs task forces get. The Ballyfermot drugs task force, which is in the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne's constituency, gets €300,000 more than the Tallaght drugs task force. Can the Minister of State explain that for a town the size of a city, somehow these other areas are more important proportionately in terms of the funding that they receive? That is a question the Minister of State and her officials need to dwell on.

Bray in the Minister for Health's constituency is a fine town. I know not what its population is, but it is nowhere near 150,000 and it is not a city. It gets €200,000 more per annum than the Tallaght drugs and alcohol task force. I ask the Minister of State to reflect on that, and maybe take some action to address it.

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