Dáil debates
Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
Drug and Alcohol Task Forces
6:15 pm
Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I wish to raise the issue of the Government examining and ensuring proper funding for the Targeting Resources at Youth, TRY, programme at St. Teresa's Gardens. The funding is needed to ensure work undertaken to date, as well as work to come in future, is placed on a sustainable footing. A funding proposal from the TRY programme has been sent to the relevant Minister. TRY is a very specific programme aimed at some of those directly involved in drug taking, drug dealing, in many instances, drug-related anti-social behaviour and violence in the area of St. Teresa's Gardens in Dublin's south inner city. The area in question is currently the subject of a regeneration programme. It has suffered greatly over decades because of the scourge of drugs. Many of the solutions now commonplace across the city came from this community in the south-west inner city. That happened because the community understood how to address issues it faced. It knew how to address the needs of some of the young people caught up in the drugs culture present in the past 20 years in many local authority housing complexes and in many of our cities. The programme determined how to address those needs and ensure that young people are not involved.
The TRY programme, and the Donore community drugs team, ran a pilot scheme that was very successful. This was proven by the evaluation of the programme. The problem is that funding for the programme has ended. Dublin City Council, in fairness, understood that what is needed is not just a regeneration of houses and apartments. Sometimes part of the community also has to be regenerated. It funded the programme on a once-off basis. The understanding was that the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Skills or the Government would address the need to fund this organisation. What is being proposed is an outreach programme. It deals with young people and their families. Those young people are sometimes in a situation where other drugs workers would not engage with them.
The outcome of the programme to date has been very encouraging. Of the last 18 young people who were part of the programme, nine have gone on to mainstream services. They were not engaging with those services previously. Those young people can now be further stabilised and encouraged to go back to education or into some type of employment. One young person on the programme previously has gone on to college. Another was engaged with one of the larger contractors in the area. There have, therefore, been successes and those are measurable because the people in question are identified. What is being sought, as far as I know, is €150,000 to allow the continuing employment of staff. There are only two part-time youth workers holding the fort at present. It is being requested that there be three full-time staff and that funding continue for two years. That would give some consistency to the programme and address one of the pockets of major anti-social behaviour and violence identified, not just by the community, but also by youth workers and An Garda Síochána.
Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Last week, my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, announced additional funding of €1 million for the implementation of the national drugs strategy. The funding will be provided on a recurring multi-annual basis will address the priorities set out in the strategy. Those will include early harm reduction responses, emerging trends in substance misuse, including polydrug use and crack cocaine and improving services for at-risk groups. Government policy in relation to drug and alcohol addiction services is set out in the national drugs strategy, Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery: A Health-led Response to Drug and Alcohol Use in Ireland 2017-2025.
Drug and alcohol task forces play a key role in assessing the extent and nature of substance misuse in their areas, and in supporting community responses, as part of a co-ordinated approach involving all sectors at local and regional levels. A total of €27.645 million was allocated to the drug and alcohol task forces by the Department and the HSE in 2018. This level of funding has been maintained for the past number of years. This funding is used to support community drug projects to deliver services which meet local priorities. The Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, is very familiar with and greatly appreciates this valuable work in local communities.
The Department and the HSE allocate over €2 million to the south inner city local drug and alcohol task force each year to fund 23 projects in the area. The Donore community drug team receives in the region of €178,000 from the allocation to the south inner city's local drug and alcohol task force, LDTF. The HSE has monitoring and oversight responsibilities of drug and alcohol task forces under its section 39 governance framework. This is to ensure that service provision is meeting identified needs and there is accountability and transparency for public monies provided by the Department of Health. The HSE has advised that the task force co-ordinator for the south inner city task force, the LDTF, has had several meetings with the Donore community drug team in respect of the TRY programme. It is working with it on structural development and financial issues.
I also understand that the youth programme will be the subject of discussion at a meeting of HSE senior management next week. Measuring the overall effectiveness of the response to the drug problem is an important objective of drug policy. Resources are best directed towards interventions and strategies which are most likely to lead to a reduction in problem substance use and an improvement in public health, safety and well-being.
The Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, is committed to developing a performance measurement system by 2020 which will improve accountability and strengthen the task force model. The funding will complement enhancements in drug and alcohol treatment services related to mental health and homelessness under the 2019 HSE national service plan. The Minister of State will be consulting with the drug and alcohol task forces, including that of the south inner city, and the HSE on how best to target this new funding. The Minister of State has invited the task forces to a meeting in the Department of Health at the end of March to begin this process.
6:25 pm
Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I was aware of the Minister's announcement last week of funding for several local drug and alcohol task forces. I raise this because the current funding runs out in July, which is in the middle of the summer. This urgently needs to be presented to the Minister of State and to those who are engaging with the Donore community drug and alcohol team. They must look properly at the previous pilot, the evaluation of that pilot and the work that has been done on a shoestring budget since then. If that does not happen, the community and the Donore community drug and alcohol team are afraid that some of the individuals the team has managed to identify in its outreach work will revert to type without intervention. The intervention is not always based on age. Sometimes people are slightly older than these youth workers would normally deal with. It is not based on vicinity. If some of the characters the team deals with move out of the vicinity, the team tracks them and tries to keep them engaged. It attempts to ensure that their behaviours and challenges are addressed and tries to guide them towards a more positive role. The team has been successful despite the fact that some questioned this initiative when it was first introduced. Those of us who were sceptical in the first place have been proved wrong, which is a great thing. That is why I champion it. In its own small way, it has managed to address some of the major anti-social behaviour problems in the vicinity. It is not a panacea for all the problems, but this is a regeneration area. Plans for houses have just gone ahead. We do not want this behaviour to reappear in the future.
Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his contribution and for refocusing attention on this issue, which is always very welcome. This is an issue that affects many different communities and areas, and the Deputy is right to ensure that his area is at the centre of attention in the distribution of supports. I also recognise his acknowledgement of where his position was and where it is now, which was very gracious. I assure the Deputy I will convey his concerns directly to the Minister of State and the HSE to ensure the Donore community drug and alcohol team gets the support and funding it requires to continue the work it is doing, which I have no doubt is very good.
Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State.