Results 761-780 of 6,728 for speaker:John Curran

Written Answers — Care of the Elderly: Care of the Elderly (1 Jul 2008)

John Curran: My Department operates the Scheme of Community Support for Older People. Community and voluntary organisations administer the scheme locally with support and funding provided by my Department. This Scheme encourages and assists the community's support for older people by means of grants to improve the security of vulnerable older people in their own homes. The maximum individual grants...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (9 Jul 2008)

John Curran: Work on developing the new National Drugs Strategy is ongoing. A key element of the work to date is the extensive consultation process that is being undertaken by the Steering Group, chaired by my Department, which has been established to develop proposals for the new Strategy. This has included 15 public consultation meetings and meetings with (i) a number of relevant Departments and...

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

John Curran: I welcome the opportunity to contribute briefly to this debate today. I listened to the contributions of some of the previous speakers on the opposite side, in which they apportion blame to the Government for the economic situation the country faces. Many of them have commented that we have simply squandered the boom. Where have they been for the past decade or more? Ireland has...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (10 Jul 2008)

John Curran: Under the Emerging Needs Fund, seven cocaine specific projects were approved for funding in 2005/06. A further nine projects aimed at poly-drug/cocaine use are also being supported under that Fund. While the projects have developed at differing rates, overall I am satisfied with the progress made. Over €1m is provided annually through the National Drugs Strategy to support these...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (10 Jul 2008)

John Curran: The Report of the Working Group on Drugs Rehabilitation made a series of recommendations for the development of a comprehensive rehabilitation pillar under the National Drugs Strategy. As agreed by the Working Group, the HSE is taking the lead role on rehabilitation and I understand from them that the post of Senior Rehabilitation Co-ordinator is to be advertised shortly, and that they hope...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (10 Jul 2008)

John Curran: Tackling the problem of drugs misuse is a key priority for the Government. This is reflected in the allocation of over €64m in my Department's Vote for drugs projects this year, which represents an increase of nearly 29% on the original funding for 2007. This funding will facilitate the progress towards the fulfilment of commitments in the Programme for Government, including developing...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (10 Jul 2008)

John Curran: I am not aware of any research conducted specifically on heroin use in Cork city and County, in particular in relation to under 18s. With regard to heroin users in the general population, the National Advisory Committee on Drugs recently published Bulletin 2 of the 2006/2007 Drug Prevalence Survey which gives regional data. The results for the former Southern Health Board area — which...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (10 Jul 2008)

John Curran: Approx. €22m in current funding is being provided by my Department in 2008 to support Local Drugs Task Force (LDTF) projects. Of that, over €8m relates to 108 projects targeting under 18s, including some cross-Task Force projects. The National Drugs Strategy Team oversees the work of the Task Forces. The type of projects funded range from drugs education workers, prison links workers,...

Written Answers — Departmental Offices: Departmental Offices (24 Sep 2008)

John Curran: In March 2008, my Department approved funding of €860,988 towards the cost of refurbishing the building in question in Manor Street, Dublin 7 under the National Drugs Strategy's Premises Initiative. This followed an application from the North Inner City Local Drugs Task Force for funding to accommodate the transfer of the Gateway Rehabilitation Project from its previous accommodation in...

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (24 Sep 2008)

John Curran: An application from this Group in respect of the Scheme of Community Support for Older People was received in my Department on 20th May 2008. The application was incomplete in a number of respects and required further information to be provided to establish (i) the eligibility of a number of older people seeking alarm systems and (ii) that the Group complied with the terms and conditions of...

Written Answers — Departmental Programmes: Departmental Programmes (24 Sep 2008)

John Curran: Question 255 of 28 May 2008 dealt with contracts for support agencies under the Community Development Programme. Support agencies were contracted to provide supports to community development projects, which, in turn deliver the programme under contract to my Department. Expressions of interest for revised supports for the Programme were called for on the e-tenders website on 16 June 2008,...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (25 Sep 2008)

John Curran: Work on developing the new National Drugs Strategy, to which I assume the Deputy is referring, has been ongoing throughout the year and is being overseen by a Steering Group, which is chaired by my Department. As part of the ongoing work, a comprehensive consultation process was undertaken in April – June 2008, which included: 15 public consultation meetings; meetings with relevant...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (2 Oct 2008)

John Curran: As the Deputy will be aware, there are 14 Local Drugs Task Forces (LDTFs) in operation — 12 in Dublin, one in Cork City and one in Bray, Co. Wicklow. The core staff of the Task Forces are based in separate premises across the 14 individual Task Force areas. Details of the locations of the LDTFs are attached at Appendix 1. Five Task Forces currently rent their own premises — Ballymun,...

Written Answers — Community Development: Community Development (2 Oct 2008)

John Curran: The Community Development Programme (CDP) was established in 1990 in recognition of the role of community development in tackling poverty and disadvantage. In 2008, an allocation of €24.5million has made available for the Community Development Programme. The Programme currently core funds 185 community development projects in communities experiencing social and economic disadvantage. All...

National Drugs Strategy. (7 Oct 2008)

John Curran: As the Deputy will be aware, the national drugs public awareness campaign, led by the HSE, was launched by my predecessor, the Minister of State, Deputy Pat Carey, in February last. The campaign focused on cocaine and young people, highlighting not only the dangers for the individuals who use the drug, but also the damage caused by cocaine related activity in society, activity that is often...

National Drugs Strategy. (7 Oct 2008)

John Curran: I do not have information with regard to the breakdown of the numbers calling the helpline. That information is with the HSE. With regard to what we refer to as poly drug use, be it alcohol or other drugs, one of the findings from research done after the campaign was there was greater awareness among cocaine users of the heightened risk involved when using other drugs while using cocaine.

National Drugs Strategy. (7 Oct 2008)

John Curran: I acknowledge the figures the Deputy mentioned, but if we look at the figures for both prior to and after the campaign, we see some significant changes with regard to people's perspective. The figures changed during that period. I agree with the Deputy that a one-off campaign is not sufficient. The HSE campaign was public and we are now conducting the local campaign. However, if we are to...

National Drugs Strategy. (7 Oct 2008)

John Curran: Support for families affected by drug misuse is a key priority of the current national drugs strategy and I expect it will continue to be prioritised under the new strategy which is currently being developed. As the Deputy knows only too well, problem drug use can have a devastating effect on the family and it is particularly important to have appropriate, accessible and timely services in...

National Drugs Strategy. (7 Oct 2008)

John Curran: Before I address the Deputy's question, I want to clarify that at the moment there are quite a number of family support projects. Around 120 such projects are being run by local drugs task forces, while the regional drugs task forces are running 50 projects that have been identified as providing primarily family support. During the public consultation period for the new national drugs...

National Drugs Strategy. (7 Oct 2008)

John Curran: I agree with the Deputy. During the public consultation process it was found that the availability of services seemed to vary radically around the country. In some parts of Dublin services are more accessible and better established, while in other parts of the country there is clearly a deficit. I acknowledge and agree with the Deputy's point.