Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I again thank the Deputies for the opportunity to confirm the continued participation of community and voluntary organisations in the national drugs strategy.

The interagency approach involving a partnership between statutory, community and voluntary bodies remains central to the strategy, as does strengthening the resilience of communities to respond to the drug problem.

Community organisations will continue to have an active role in the design and delivery of the strategy, both at local level through the drug and alcohol task forces and at national level through the national oversight committee.

I acknowledge the concerns of one organisation regarding its continued involvement in the national drugs strategy, and I understand the point made by Deputy Joan Collins. I know from long experience that the key to addressing legitimate concerns is not though megaphone diplomacy but through direct communication between parties based on mutual respect. I will meet those parties again to see if we can iron out any difficulties.

I look forward to working with all stakeholders, including community groups, voluntary service providers and people with lived experience of drugs, to deliver the strategic priorities for the strategy over its remaining years. Deputy Ward spoke about a meeting and I will follow that up in the morning. My office is open at all times. People have my number or they can email me, and I will be only too delighted to meet to try to resolve this issue. I thank all the Deputies for being balanced. I will try to work to ensure we get a satisfactory outcome that we all can be happy with. There are issues and it is a very difficult issue but I hope we will be able to resolve it in the coming days and weeks. Again, I thank all of the Deputies.

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