Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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We live in interesting times and virtually every sector of Government funding has been hard hit by cutbacks, a levy, a budget and, next month, a mini-budget, all of which has happened in the space of six months. It is therefore not surprising that the national drugs strategy has suffered a reduction in its budget from €37 million to €34 million. Every local drugs task force, State agency and community group providing a local drugs service is worried about cutbacks and funding for their services and projects. They are worried about loss of staff through redundancies and the inability to plan for the full financial year.

It is particularly alarming to hear that funding for the Dial to Stop Drug Dealing and Threats initiative is now capped at €300,000 and will be unlikely to be able to proceed after June of this year. This programme has been piloted successfully in a number of rural and urban areas, including the north inner city in my own constituency. It provides a confidential telephone line which can be used in privacy and with absolute security by drug addicts, their families, neighbours and others who are often subjected to intimidation by drug barons to extract money from them or to force them to sell drugs. Gardaí regard this programme as a valuable resource in the fight against drugs. It is not expensive and becomes more and more cost-effective as it is rolled out throughout the country. It would be a shame if it became another casualty of the recession.

It appears that the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs is using the backdrop and cover of the recession and the budgetary cutbacks to restructure the national drugs strategy without any consultation with its component parts. The national drugs strategy is a complex edifice which has multi-agency and community participation at its heart. If this co-operative and holistic approach is undermined, the entire edifice will collapse, which would be disastrous as the present approach is the only one that can work.

The Garda, with all the legislation in the world, cannot deal with the drugs threat effectively. As the unemployment queues increase alarmingly, regeneration schemes shelved or collapsed and marginalised communities become more marginalised, the ground becomes increasingly fertile for the drugs barons to ply their trade. This is not the time for retrenchment within the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. It is not the time to abandon the tried and tested multifaceted approach or to centralise the delivery of services to those vulnerable and marginalised people affected by substance abuse the length and breadth of Ireland. I ask the Minister to retain the integrated partnership approach that values community participation in decision making at local, regional and national level in the drugs strategy, and not to jeopardise the real progress made over the past 12 years.

John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy John Curran, who is not available.

Details of a new national drugs strategy for the period 2009-16 have not yet been finalised. A steering group comprising representatives of the statutory, community and voluntary sectors, is currently finalising its proposals in regard to the strategy. It is expected that its recommendations will be received by the end of March. Once the Minister of State, Deputy Curran, has considered them, he will then seek Government approval for a new strategy in April, with publication to follow as quickly as possible thereafter. The Minister of State, Deputy Curran, indicated in his statement last week to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs that significant changes have occurred in the pattern of drug use since the current strategy was developed. In particular, the number of drugs being used has increased, polydrug usage occurs to a greater extent and problem drug use has spread across most of the country. It is important that the new strategy addresses problem drug use as it currently manifests itself.

The steering group has reached agreement on the actions necessary regarding supply reduction, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation measures. It is finalising the consideration of actions relating to research, as well as the structures that should be utilised to best facilitate the effective implementation of the strategy.

The development of a new strategy presents an opportunity to examine the structures through which the overall effort to tackle the drugs problem is addressed. The Minister looks forward to the recommendations of the steering group in this regard, and he hopes a framework can be devised that will preserve the best aspects of the current strategy, including partnership across the sectors, while better facilitating governance, management and effectiveness.

Ireland's economic circumstances have changed significantly even since the process of developing the new strategy began last year. The improvement of service provision remains a goal but without significant additional resources this will have to be achieved by promoting efficiency in services, focusing on those that can produce real results and fostering interagency working to the benefit of all.

As with any area of public spending, the policies to tackle the drugs problem must be implemented within the financial parameters faced in any given year. In the current economic climate, the challenge of utilising our resources effectively is even more relevant. Furthermore, it is important to note that the new strategy will cover a period of eight years and the economic circumstances can fluctuate considerably over such a period.

This Government is firmly committed to tackling the problem of drug misuse in our society. This is reflected in the fact that the relative reduction in the 2009 funding allocation to my Department for the drugs initiatives is quite small. In 2008, the budget for community-based initiatives in the local and regional drugs task force areas was nearly €34.8 million. Funding for 2009 will be approximately €34.6 million, of which more than €23 million is being allocated to local drugs task forces and more than €11 million to regional groups.

Unfortunately, no area is immune from cost-cutting measures in the current economic environment. It is in this context that all drugs task forces were asked to identify savings across their areas of responsibility. Although it is appreciated this will involve difficult choices, it is a matter for the drugs task forces to identify measures to enable them to work within their allocated budgets.

Across Government, we are taking a number of difficult decisions, but our approach is to do this in as balanced a way as possible. There is a critical need to ensure resources are directed in a targeted and effective manner and that the maximum benefit is achieved. The Minister of State, Deputy Curran, wishes me to assure the Deputy that his primary concern has been, and continues to be, the protection of front-line services delivering vital programmes and initiatives in areas worst affected by problem drug use.

Projects have been approved funding for the first six months of 2009 and this expenditure will be reviewed before allocating funding for the second six-month period. Work will continue with the drug task forces to ensure this funding is targeted in the most appropriate manner. The Minister of State is confident that the funding in 2009 will continue to facilitate the delivery of meaningful and viable community-based initiatives to address problem drug use.

The drugs strategy is based on a co-ordinated approach across many Departments and agencies and the allocation to the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs is part of a much bigger investment programme in drugs services across these bodies. In 2008, it was estimated that total expenditure on drugs programmes was approximately €264 million. The figures for 2009 are being compiled, but preliminary estimates, produced for a meeting today of the inter-departmental group on drugs, indicate that spending across all Departments will be maintained at this level.

The Minister of State, Deputy Curran, awaits the outcome of the steering group's deliberations before finalising proposals on a new national drugs strategy. He wishes to assure the Deputy the new strategy will focus on countering problem drug use in our society and that securing appropriate financing over the coming years, and driving a value for money approach, will be central features of its implementation.