Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join the Deputy in commending the vital work the task force does. As the Deputy will be aware, there is increased investment in drug and alcohol programmes and support services. We need to go a lot further but we are increasing the services year on year. If the Deputy does not mind, I will revert to him regarding that particular post. My hope, especially as regards a replacement post where somebody has resigned, is that we will be able to revert to normal business in due course on that. Certainly, it is not the intention that situation would last, for example, through next year. It was simply that this year, when the HSE reached and exceeded its funded positions, we had to stop for the obvious budgetary control reasons, but we want to get back as quickly as possible to business as usual.

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