Results 2,821-2,840 of 4,700 for speaker:Noel Ahern

National Drugs Strategy. (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: That is only part of what is spent. All of our initiatives through the local or regional drugs task forces are pilot schemes, which are then evaluated and mainstreamed. Approximately €25 million worth of funding has moved out into the mainstream. In the region of €70 million is being spent each year on projects that began at community level. When one adds this to the €80 million or...

National Drugs Strategy. (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: We are doing our best and are trying to get the message across. We are providing resources in respect of the initiatives that have come forward. The ROSIE study was great because it proved that treatment works. We are trying to provide people with services. The drug problem is international in nature and it would be foolish for us to believe that illegal drugs will not be brought into...

National Drugs Strategy. (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: There are targets, but we need proper baseline data to follow up. We have the 2006 figure for heroin users, which showed a slight drop on the 2001 figure but showed that there were 2,000 plus outside Dublin. Six or seven years ago those people outside Dublin were probably included in the Dublin figure because one hears of stories of people who came from Arklow or Athlone every day by train....

National Drugs Strategy. (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: There are prevention, education and awareness campaigns. Prevention is one of the five pillars of the strategy. In large part it is focused on the cannabis level, through schools. Under the SPHE programme, all schools include addiction and drug prevention modules as part of general overall education so that students have knowledge of it. At first this was provided in all schools in local...

National Drugs Strategy. (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: This is what we are trying to do. Persons, whether inside or outside prison, are provided with the services and if somebody is released in a planned way, that service is provided. In the past the hiccups arose where somebody was released suddenly from prison due to overcrowding or the like, and the outside service was not in place. The position in that regard is better now and the Irish...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 194 together. The 10 Regional Drugs Task Forces (RDTFs) that have been established to include all parts of the country not covered by a Local Drugs Task Force are charged with researching, developing, implementing and monitoring a co-ordinated response to illicit drug use at regional level. The South West RDTF has responsibility for County Kildare, West...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 11, 40 and 43 together. I was pleased to launch the report, to which the Deputies refer, last week. The campaign was brought about through a unique alliance of groups and agencies working on the frontline on drugs issues in the area in question and funded by my Department through the Local Drugs Task Force. The main function of the campaign was to gather...

Written Answers — Dormant Accounts Fund: Dormant Accounts Fund (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: Disbursements from the Dormant Accounts Fund are for the purpose of assisting three broad categories of persons — those who are economically or socially disadvantaged; those who are educationally disadvantaged and persons with a disability. To date in 2006, the Government has approved the allocation of over €13.4 million from the Dormant Accounts Fund to support a range of funding...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: I would not accept the view that the National Drug Strategy is failing. Indeed, the main finding of the mid-term review of the Strategy was that the current aims and objectives were fundamentally sound and that progress was being made across all pillars of the Strategy. It would seem from newspaper reports that the Chief Executive of Merchants Quay Ireland, speaking at the launch of his...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: Ten Regional Drugs Task Forces (RDTFs) have been established to include all parts of the country not covered by a Local Drugs Task Force, thus achieving full coverage of the country. The RDTFs are charged with researching, developing, implementing and monitoring a co-ordinated response to illicit drug use at regional level. Each Task Force has an independent Chairperson and is made up of...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: The National Advisory Committee on Drugs is in the process of completing an update on Cocaine Use in Ireland and, while this research is still a work in progress, the indications are that the use of cocaine is increasing and that a small number of injecting drug users are combining cocaine and heroin (speedball). The National Drug Treatment Reporting System (NDTRS), which is an...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: Through the implementation structures of the National Drugs Strategy, my officials have ongoing contact with representatives of An Garda Síochána, and the prevalence of crack cocaine in the country is among the issues discussed from time to time. I also periodically meet senior officers of An Garda Síochána to review developments in regard to illicit drugs. The Gardaí have reported a...

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: The recently published report of the Law Reform Commission (LRC) to which the Deputy refers related to the areas of Charitable Trusts and of Legal Structures for Charities. With regard to the issue of Charitable Trusts, the Deputy will be aware that, following the publication by my Department of its Consultation Paper on Establishing a Modern Statutory Framework for Charities, the LRC agreed...

Written Answers — Dormant Accounts Fund: Dormant Accounts Fund (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: The key objective in allocating funds from Dormant Accounts is to ensure that disbursements are targeted at those most in need in society. Funding from Dormant Accounts is designed to complement the range of Government programmes that address economic, social and educational disadvantage and assist persons with a disability. An innovative feature of the 2006 round of Dormant Accounts Funding...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 49 and 54 together. The study referred to by the Deputies, which was commissioned by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD) under Action 98 of the National Drugs Strategy, was an exploratory study of relatively small scale, aimed at assessing the nature and extent of drug use amongst the Traveller Community in Ireland. The study shows that Travellers...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 51 and 53 together. My Department and the bodies under its aegis co-operate with colleagues in Northern Ireland on an ongoing basis in relation to various aspects of the National Drugs Strategy. Prominent among the more formal links is the work of the British-Irish Council Sectoral Group on the Misuse of Drugs. As the Deputy is aware, the British Irish...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: The all-island Drug Prevalence Survey 2006/07 is currently underway with fieldwork to be completed in April 2007. This will be followed by an analysis of the data, resulting in the publication of the first series of results in late 2007. The study will cover cocaine, including crack cocaine, and figures for the latter will be provided. A briefing paper on cocaine arising from the 2002/2003...

Written Answers — Security of the Elderly: Security of the Elderly (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: I understand that the situation on which the Deputy's question is based is a particular and localised one and affects approximately 40/45 individuals with socially-monitored alarms in Co. Westmeath, where the 04 STD area underwent a number change under the 'National Numbering Scheme', which is managed and administered by ComReg. My Department has been in contact with the local groups and I...

Written Answers — Voluntary Sector Funding: Voluntary Sector Funding (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: Regarding the status of the White Paper on a Framework for Supporting Voluntary Activity, I refer the Deputy to my reply to Question No. 48 of 5th October, 2006. The current status of funding schemes under the White Paper is as follows: Under the Funding Scheme to Support the Role of Federations, Networks and Umbrella bodies, 32 groups have been funded to a total of €6.78m over three and a...

Written Answers — Community Development: Community Development (9 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 60 and 179 together. The Young Peoples Facilities and Services Fund was established in 1998 to assist in the development of facilities (including sport and recreational facilities) and services in disadvantaged areas where a significant drug problem existed or had the potential to develop. While some of the expenditure is for capital work on the provision of...