Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I said earlier, I acknowledge the fantastic job that has been done by the local Garda and the Department of Justice. There must be improvement in communication between the HSE and the Red Door Project. Action on the part of the HSE speaks louder than words.

The other issue is that there must be community representatives on the implementation board. I have looked at the Dublin North East Inner City implementation board, which is in a similar situation to the Drogheda implementation board. There are two community representatives and a representative of businesses and employers on that implementation board. That is lacking in Drogheda. It was not a recommendation of the Geiran report, but I think it needs to be introduced now. Local involvement is needed at the top, because there is a feeling of distance from some community groups. They do not know what is happening and are not being informed by the implementation board through the local media as to what is happening. That is a deficit. The implementation board is aware of that.

We must push forward with it. If we had more people like the Minister and her Department working on this issue, we would be flying.

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