Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 16: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the extent to which he will offer increased financial support to communities throughout the country attempting to combat the drugs problem; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22755/05]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 301: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the extent to which he can offer financial assistance to community groups involved in combating the drugs problem throughout greater Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23205/05]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 and 301 together.

My Department was allocated €31.5 million to fund drugs initiatives in 2005, which represents an 18% increase on last year's budget. Through the funding available to me, the valuable work being done by local drugs task forces, LDTFs, and the young peoples facilities and services fund, YPFSF, will continue to be supported and developed.

In addition, the following new initiatives will be rolled out. A new fund to tackle emerging needs in the LDTF areas will be provided. I hope to make some announcements in this regard shortly. The Department will also continue to support a number of pilot projects which were announced last Christmas specifically to tackle cocaine. Funding will also be allocated to implement the action plans from the regional drugs task forces. In this context, the Deputy should note that I will make initial allocations to six of the regions in the next few weeks. Seven plans have been received and this allocation will consist of a first tranche of the funding. A third round of capital funding under the young peoples facilities and services fund in local drugs task force areas will also be announced shortly. A further round of funding through the premises initiative for community-based drugs projects in local drugs task force areas will also be made this year. Moreover, additional administrative supports for some local drugs task forces will be rolled out.

The Deputy should also note that in addition to the initiatives noted earlier, over recent years a large number of projects which were initially developed through the local drugs task forces and the young peoples facilities and services fund have been taken into the mainstream by various Departments and agencies. It is estimated that in monetary terms, these make up a further €19 million to €20 million so that in total, a sum of more than €50 million has been invested in projects which started at local drugs task force level and which continue on an ongoing basis.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

This Government continues to tackle the drug problem in the most comprehensive way possible. In this context, the Deputy should note that the mid-term review of the drugs strategy, which was published in early June, found that there are encouraging signs of progress since 2001 when the strategy was first launched. This suggests our current approach to tackling the drug problem is proving to be effective.

Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)
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If I speak in Irish, am I allowed speak for longer?

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy English should try it.

Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)
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I might try.

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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As these are ordinary questions, the Deputy's supplementary questions are limited to one minute.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be permitted to speak for two minutes if he speaks in Irish.

Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)
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It is like the leaving certificate where one gets extra points. The Minister of State will have a busy summer travelling throughout the country announcing these funds and handing out cheques. I look forward to pursuing him as he does so. However, many of these programmes are under much pressure and need increased grants because of increases in the costs of insurance and staff. Can he examine the programmes which have received grants over recent years to see if it is possible to provide them with extra money? These announcements, which include some new schemes and some new places, will be made in the next few weeks.

With regard to multi-annual funding, is it possible to give projects a commitment over a number of years? In that way, people will not be obliged to spend half the year trying to raise money through golf or poker classics or by whatever means to guarantee money for the following year. They could get on with the job we need them to do, that is, tackling drug abuse and helping young people go down different routes by keeping them busy doing something else. Are there any plans to go down that route?

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I did not catch the Deputy's first point. On the multi-annual funding, all the funding is rolled out in accordance with plans submitted and approved. That part is all right. When the projects are in place for a certain period of time, they are evaluated. The theory is that they are mainstreamed back into the Departments of Education and Science, Health and Children and so on, and the funding becomes part of the establishment thereafter. They must be evaluated and examined. Every project does not get the nod or approval. A project might get approval in part. Once projects are mainstreamed, there is consistency of funding. That is built into the system thereafter. What was the Deputy's first point?

Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)
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I asked about the increase in insurance costs. CE programmes used to get staff but it is becoming difficult for many of them to hold on to them. I refer to organisations such as the National Youth Federation.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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If it was part of the organisation's plan and if it was a genuine cost, it would be allowed. An organisation would get a slight increase based on its staff projects.

Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)
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The question was not really about new projects but about existing ones. I probably worded the question wrongly.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I think that is covered.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Does the Minister of State accept we have had a major crisis in dealing with the drugs issue, particularly over the past five or six months? I welcome the announcements on dealing with the cocaine problem. Is the Minister of State aware that many crimes, including violent crimes, are committed by people who are coked up, or high, on cocaine and that it has been used by those involved in gangland murders?

I refer to strategies to tackle the drugs problem. We need a more targeted response to deal with it because considerable amounts of money are being made from drugs, there are gangland murders and children's lives are being destroyed. Does the Minister of State accept this is a reality for many people? Is he aware of the widespread intimidation of communities every night of the week? There are two areas in my constituency where everything seems to close down after 9 p.m., where there is violence, fear and intimidation and where people are afraid to leave their flat complexes or estates. What response would the Minister of State encourage as part of the strategy to deal with this problem? Is he aware that many of our ports and small harbours are used to import dangerous drugs?

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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There is a problem in the drugs area and there is a strategy in place to deal with it which is receiving considerable funding from Government. Over the past seven or eight years, approximately €200 million has been provided through the local drugs task forces and the young people's facilities and services fund, not to mention all the money spent by the Garda and Customs and Excise on law enforcement and by the Department of Health and Children on treatment and on education and awareness campaigns. We only provide the money which goes to the local drugs task forces and the young people's facilities and services fund.

I do not know what the Deputy means by a more targeted response. We have just done a mid-term review of the strategy. All the State agencies and voluntary and community groups were involved in it and had an input. The review took almost 12 months. There has been exhaustive consultation so that everyone can feel part of and claim ownership of it. What has emerged is the product of everyone's involvement.

There is crime and there are areas in which there are difficulties but we have provided nearly €100 million through the young people's facilities and services fund, including €3.2 million for the new hall in Donnycarney in the Deputy's constituency. We realise it is not enough just to tell young people not to get involved in drugs. One must try to give them alternatives and point them in the direction of healthy sporting or other pursuits. Much money is being spent in that way.

The youth service, certainly in the Dublin area, has been totally revitalised in recent years through money from the young people's facilities and services fund. It tries to give people in "at risk" areas the opportunity to keep away from drugs and that is part of the way in which the strategy operates.