Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree that it is important that every Deputy would visit his or her community drug team, particularly those which have a local management team or board. That is the essence of community development. It is the local community giving a local response and being able to effectively deal with the problem as it arises in its community. The lesson we have learned over the past 30 years since the local drugs forces were established is that each area is unique and that is why it is so important that communities are supported through a community development approach and that their voices are heard, and not only heard but acted on. There has been a very poor response from many Departments over the past ten years in particular when it comes to the voices of the communities being heard. Citywide has been very strong on this. I welcome that there has been funding for Citywide but we need to move on and get the communities back at the heart of dealing with problematic drug use.

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