Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 19: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs his views on the recent report of the Working Group on Drug Rehabilitation that represents the fifth pillar of the National Drugs Strategy; the main recommendations of this report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20960/07]

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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One of the main recommendations arising from the Mid-term Review of the National Drugs Strategy (NDS), was that rehabilitation should become its fifth pillar.

In this context, a Working Group, chaired by my Department and involving representatives of all key players in the NDS, was established to examine the issues involved and to make recommendations on how best to progress the rehabilitation of recovering problem drug users. Their report was accepted by both the Inter-Departmental Group on Drugs and the Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion in March 2007 and was subsequently published in May. I very much welcome the report and I wholeheartedly support the implementation of its recommendations. The key recommendations focus on:

an effective inter-agency approach based on a continuum of care for the individual (this will involve protocols for inter-agency working, service level agreements, enhanced case management and quality standards);

an expansion of the range of treatment options (including an increased number of residential detoxification beds);

building on the rehabilitative impact of Community Employment Schemes; and

broader life issues including medical support, access to employment, access to education, housing, particular issues relating to the rehabilitation of offenders, childcare, the role of families in the rehabilitation process and research.

The Programme for Government contains a commitment to implement the recommendations in the Working Group's report. My Department, together with the HSE and the Departments of Health & Children and Enterprise, Trade & Employment are currently taking a joint approach to ensuring that the necessary steps are taken to successfully implement the recommendations of the report.