Nicky McFadden (Fine Gael)

I do not doubt that the Minister of State, Deputy Pat Carey, is sincere. I applaud him on his allocation of €50 million for dealing with this serious issue. This is another crap report, however. I apologise if that is unparliamentary language. All its aspirations are worthwhile and sincere. No work has been done on prevention or treatment in my local area. We do not have a regional drug treatment centre. No money was spent during the first year of the regional task force. I am angry about this. I have attended too many funerals of people who died from heroin overdoses. I am acutely aware that general practitioner services are trying to cope with difficulties in helping methadone users to access the services they need. I am very angry about this. We are applauding ourselves and saying we are great. This report is too aspirational — it outlines what we want to do. I do not doubt the Minister of State's sincerity, but I hope he has the will to drive forward this report.

People in the midlands regional drugs task force area are beginning to become a little proactive. They are recruiting an educational officer, for example. We have a problem in our area. I urge the Minister of State to show the will and drive to spend the money that has been allocated. A total of €1.7 million remains to be spent by the midland regional drugs task force in my area by the end of this year. How will it be possible to spend that money in such a short time? I do not wish to judge the community workers involved in the task force but there needs to be leadership shown by the Minister for Health and Children and by the Government.