Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 45: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the seminars or meetings he or his officials has attended within the EU Framework or otherwise in relation to the misuse of illicit substances; the countries involved; if there is compatibility with other countries in trends of misuse in relation to age groups, communities, employment factors and so on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18825/08]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Officials from my Department attend meetings of the EU National Drug Coordinators which are held twice a year. These meetings are hosted by the country holding the EU Presidency and those responsible for drug coordination in each Member State attend.

The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has the lead role on the Horizontal Working Party on Drugs, which is an European Council Working Group. These meetings are chaired by representatives of the current Presidency country and meetings are held once a month in Brussels. Officials from my Department attend on an occasional basis, depending on the relevance of the agenda items to their overall co-ordination role in regard to the National Drugs Strategy.

Officials of the Drugs Strategy Unit also attend additional EU meetings on an occasional basis. Examples include a meeting on the Evaluation of Public Policies and Programmes on Drugs held in Lisbon last year.

My Department also has the lead role on the Sectoral Group on the Misuse of Drugs under the British-Irish Council (involving eight jurisdictions). Approximately four meetings of the Group are held each year at official level, normally with one meeting at ministerial level. My Department also made a significant input to the British-Irish Council Summit Meeting held in February, where 'Families and Drugs Misuse' was one of the main agenda items.

It is difficult to accurately assess the degree of compatibility with other countries in regard to trends of drug misuse in view of variations in the availability of data, the methodologies of collecting data and the timing of various surveys and research. However, some general points can be made. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drugs Addiction (EMCCDA) reports that opiates remain the principal drugs for which clients seek treatment in many countries and they also report that there is more drug use amongst males than females in EU Member States.