Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their comments. The national centre will involve a collaborative spirit. I will come back to that later. In terms of the review of the north east inner city initiative that Deputy McDonald has asked for, I have not gone cool on it but we wanted to work through it. We did the progress report, which in a way is a review of its own. I think the Deputy is looking for a more comprehensive review.

I have asked senior officials in my Department, including an assistant secretary on social policy, to look nationally at areas that need interventions of this kind or to map what is out there in different communities. Deputy McAuliffe raised issues pertaining to Ballymun. I have met with groups there. Other communities have also said they could do with a more community-based intervention somewhat similar to the revitalising areas through planning, investment and development, RAPID, programmes of old. A very good presentation was made to the more recent social affairs Cabinet committee on that issue and how, along with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, on the communities side we can develop a model that would take the best of what is there at the moment and apply it without duplication. Many different community groups and bodies are involved. The challenge is to knit that together into a cohesive focal effort and impact on the ground and to have real community capacity on the ground that would be supported by the State, targeted to the areas that need it most. That is what I am endeavouring to do.

A review of the north east inner city in that context could be useful for other areas but also of course for the north east inner city itself in terms of moving forward from the base we have now established. I was recently at the launch of a unique educational project there; the acronym escapes me right now. It relates to the leaving certificate. Students in the senior cycle in the college on Seán McDermott Street have the capacity to do third-level modules in second level, which equips them for the world of work in technology. It is very impressive and shows how innovation in education can work in these type of community initiatives as well. There were young people saying to me that they want to be the next Elon Musk in robotics. It was fantastic to see the progress they have made. The private sector was involved with the initiative in terms of technology supports and so on. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from how this model has worked in some aspects and maybe where it could do better in others. It seems to me that the implementation side of it is strong and that the personnel charged with implementing it have driven it well.

I take Deputy McAuliffe's point that a lot of it has to do with providing access to senior officials and that matters in getting things moving on the ground, not just in the north east inner city but in other areas that need this type of approach. I will come back to the Deputy in respect of the review. I have not gone cool on it. I will also revert to the Deputy on the issue around the HSE and the task force.

I favour a health-based approach to drug addiction as opposed to a criminalisation approach. There is always a balance to be struck in approaching it. Essentially we need stronger supports for people who are addicted across the board, be it to alcohol, gambling or drugs.

We have to develop a supportive culture but we also must enhance and increase professional capacity to deal with addiction in the strongest possible way. Health services should be front and centre in that approach. That is where we are heading as a Government and it is where our policy is focused.

I have dealt with Deputy Bacik's points on using this model for other areas. She referred to the issues raised in the report, No Child Should Suffer. My view is that we need consistent, long-term funding of areas of disadvantage, to use that phrase, where the metrics are not right, early school-leaving is still too high and patterns of educational attainment are not similar to the average across the country. As a country, we have very high levels of school completion, but in certain areas of the country, that is not the case. Therefore, we need consistency. There has been too much of a stop-start approach. Initiatives happen, they work for five or ten years and then they are pulled back. Sometimes, they are pulled back if they are successful, whereas I think we should keep them going if they are successful. Sometimes, we pull the rug from underneath the providers.

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