Joe Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 111: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs his views on whether €1 million is sufficient funding for the emerging needs fund under the national drugs strategy; if representations have been made for increased funding in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4436/06]

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 129: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if the amount allocated to the emerging needs fund will be increased in order to enhance drug prevention and treatment initiatives; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4373/06]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 111 and 129 together.

The emerging needs fund was devised to address an evolving situation in regard to the misuse of drugs on a flexible basis and in a timely manner. To date I have allocated almost €850,000 under the fund to 15 projects. I hope to be in a position to make further allocations soon. I do not anticipate that the total allocation to projects under the fund will be capped at €1 million. I look forward to successful outcomes from the initiatives to which moneys under this fund will be allocated.

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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At what level does the Minister of State expect the fund to be capped if not €1 million? There is a wide discrepancy between the €1 million that appeared to be in place until the Minister of State spoke and the estimate of the chairpersons and co-ordinators of local drugs task forces that at least €8 million is required for the emerging needs fund. This group has on-the-ground experience and knows what is happening in communities. How can there be such a large discrepancy between what the Minister of State provides and what this group sees as the minimum amount necessary?

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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It was originally envisaged that the fund would be €1 million for last year. It was intended to respond to key issues as they arose. The national drugs strategy team then decided to apply in tranches. If one does not know how much is required one must be careful not to spend all one's money on the first day. My comment about more than €1 million is not new. I sent word before Christmas, I think, to the national drugs strategy team to send in another list of maybe up to €2 million.

The final figures on these items depend on money and need, and on the quality of the projects that might come forward. It is one thing for a group to say it needs €5 million or €10 million but it is a different matter when one sees the quality of the projects submitted. I have asked it to prioritise its submissions and send in a list worth up to €2 million. It set three dates last year, the last being November so no one could accurately predict what would be available.

Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)
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It appears there is a delay in spending the money. The blame is apportioned to various people. It is not all the fault of the Minister of State's Department. There is a strong need for the money to be spent and this amount falls below that need. Any amount spent in this area makes a difference. Is there any way to speed up the funding process? The Minister of State said some of the applications came in late last year. What can be done to fast track the process?

If the Minister of State sees beneficial projects, better even than those in other countries, is it possible for the money to be spent more quickly? The sum of €2 million falls far short of the €5 million or €6 million that is badly needed.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The emerging needs fund is not the overall Government spend on this area. Our budget is between €30 million and €35 million a year. Other projects worth over €20 million have been brought into the mainstream. The figures in our Department will never increase very much because we constantly send items into the mainstream health and education services as they are piloted and evaluated.

Almost 600 people work on projects that started at local drugs task force level or young people's fund level. The State invests significantly in this area. More may be needed and that is why we came up with the emerging needs fund idea. I accept Deputy O'Shea's point that new drugs appear regularly, requiring new responses.

Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)
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It is not a case of what may be needed but what is needed.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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That is why we established this fund. The national drugs strategy team decided to apply for it in three tranches, the last of which came in November. I do not have the list of applications. It will send another list and we will continue to watch the situation which is fluid. We must move with it and be flexible enough to have new services. Equally, one needs to look at a project funded five or eight years ago and decide, if it is no longer needed, whether it can be adapted to today's needs.

Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Is the Minister of State not misrepresenting the emerging needs fund? Is it not the case that it is intended to cover the needs of 14 task force areas, which is a major responsibility? Surely the emerging needs fund was a result of the Government's failure to provide round three plans for those task forces. Instead of round three plans the idea of an emerging needs fund was put to the national drugs strategy team which received the impression that this would be a substantial fund, not in the region of €800,000 which the Minister of State says might increase to €2 million. This is not the way to oversee and fund strategic planning on an issue as widespread and as complex as drug abuse.

Surely the Minister of State and the national drugs strategy team and the drugs task forces agreed criteria for this fund. The task forces were asked to apply for the fund which they did to the tune of €4.5 million. The national drugs strategy team approved over 90% as fulfilling the criteria. The task forces were then told the fund was only worth €1 million. Recently they have been told it may increase to €2 million. In the context of the Minister of State's other area of responsibility, housing, where a handful of individuals earn billions of euro, it is not too much to ask for the €5 million required to cover this major social problem.

Even as we speak, other issues such as crack cocaine threaten to cause chaos in this city yet there is no strategy, funding or anything else available to deal with it because there is no strategic planning by the Minister of State at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Noel Ahern. When the national drugs strategy team produces a plan, it is humiliated by being told there is no money.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I do not know where the question was in all that, but I sincerely hope I am not misrepresenting anything. It was certainly not my intention. We talked about the 14 local drugs task forces. One cannot have round three while the pilot project is on round two. Many of the projects under round two that might have been all right two or three years ago have not been in place all that long. They have certainly not been evaluated or mainstreamed. There must be some sense and logic in this. One cannot have a round three when much of round two is still at a pilot stage.

Most people in the community sector with whom I deal regard €1 million as substantial, and that was what was originally envisaged. Government funding is not just about the emerging needs fund. As I said, approximately €55 million is being spent that would have started at local drugs task force level. The health services would spend that and more, never mind education or justice. If one added them all up, one would find that considerably more than €150 million is being spent on the fight against drugs. It may not be fair to include all those matters, but it is probably €55 million of what started at local drugs task force level, with approximately 600 projects. I do not know what is required immediately, since many of the applications arrived only at the end of November. The team is assessing them.

Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)
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That is misleading this House. The team has approved those projects to the tune of €4.5 million.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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It may have approved some of them for €4.5 million, but not all of them. One must naturally see them all and know what the bill is before one starts paying them in large numbers.

Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Will the Department fund all those approved?

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Talking of strategic development, it was up to the local drugs task forces to send forward those projects that were critical.

Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)
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They have done that.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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They were dealing with real burning issues, such as crack cocaine. The final outcome will depend on money and the quality of the applications. I have not seen too many so far about the burning issue of crack cocaine. Let us get our facts together.

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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I call Deputy Crowe.

Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)
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The Minister of State is passing the buck.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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On reflection, will the Minister of State accept that part of the difficulty was that projects and task forces were not told that €1 million would be available from the emerging needs fund? The Minister of State mentioned 600 people. The message I get is that the natural development of many projects is being stymied by the fact that funding has not been available. I am a member of a drugs task force in my area and am quite aware of the difficulties there. Dublin is awash with drugs, and the same is true of towns and villages throughout Ireland.

The Minister of State has stressed that 600 people are working on projects, but many grew from the failure of the State to respond to emerging needs and the drug problem. The feeling is that we are failing to support those communities. The Minister of State is out of sync with what is occurring with the drugs problem throughout the State. That is why people are up in arms, frustrated, angry and beginning to march again. No one wishes to march, but we should support those communities rather than holding them back. That is the view of the groups to whom I have spoken. The Minister of State is holding them back by meanness in handing out money. The sum of €4.5 million is buttons compared with the problem, and we must support those communities.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I have never said that €4.5 million was a massive sum.

Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)
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The Minister of State said that €1 million was.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I do not know why we always concentrate on this fund when it is only a small part of our overall expenditure. If the Deputy is a member of a drugs task force, he will be aware of the good work they do. I am not a member of one, and I have not been able to be one for the past three years. I previously was a member of one, however, and I know the good work done locally by many good people. I sincerely hope that we are not stymieing them. I understand that a campaign is under way, although I am unsure of the agenda.

I am probably responsible for one thing, namely, the Deputy's first question. It was envisaged that this would be an extra-special little fund to deal with emerging needs. That was the attitude in the Department, which I shared. I hope that I made that clear at various meetings, but I did not put it down in writing. To the extent that I did not specifically state the figure of €1 million, I am probably partly responsible. However, in all other respects, I am very much working with people and considering the issue. It was not to be the overall policy on drugs or the overall Government social inclusion programme, and some projects come through that are not really emerging needs. They should turn to other Departments or agencies.

That was last year. We have more money this year, and I sincerely hope that we will be able to fund some of them once the good ones have been identified. I very much want to encourage and help work locally.