Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

I will accept all help that can be offered at any level in that regard. There is a logic to it. The funds from the CAB may be a slow burner but when a meeting of the British-Irish Council was held here some weeks ago, the British Minister dealing with the matter, Mr. Bob Ainsworth, took the opportunity to visit the CAB which is deemed a successful operation and an innovative idea. I hope it recovers a lot of the proceeds from drugs. It would be good if it could be put back into the communities affected by drugs.

There is no problem with funding for the regional drugs task forces this year. I hope their first meeting will be held by the end of March. I do not want them to be an exact copy of the Dublin drugs task forces where there were very few services on the ground. However, if roughly the same plan is followed, it will take a number of months before they come up with plans. Given this, the funding requirement will arise next year and only administrative expenses will be required this year. The problem is not as bad in rural areas and the role of the regional drugs task forces may have more to do with information and co-ordination. I do not think they will come forward with as expensive a plan but, if they do, the funding requirement will not arise this year but in the future. As was the experience with the Dublin drugs task forces, even when the plans are sent in and approved, it may take quite a while for them to come into operation. That is one of the problems but money will not be a problem this year.

Senator Brian Hayes spoke about methadone research and asked whether users were coming off it. Some are but many who are stabilised on methadone are living useful lives. It is difficult to know how to judge success in these matters. It is not just to do with the number who come off methadone but how many are leading useful lives and are stabilised. I participated in the launch of a recent report on buprenorphine, another substitute for methadone. It is a simple tablet to be dissolved under the tongue a couple of times per week but is for highly motivated individuals who are back at work and do not want to go to their chemist for methadone. There are other substitutes which are not for those still dabbling and topping up on other drugs, as we know many are.

Some 6,500 people are on methadone – a good number – but there is still a problem in some parts of Dublin city. The south-west of the city was one of the weaker spots but the situation has improved in Tallaght and Clondalkin. It could have been better earlier but those communities were not very brave. There were objections at different stages to health board proposals.