Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 486: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the progress made in regard to the commitment given in the Programme for Government to expand the successful drug court programme and provide judges with the option of sentencing certain offenders to mandatory drug treatment programmes in addition to prison. [19314/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The Drug Treatment Court, which originally operated on a pilot basis in the North inner city of Dublin, has been placed on a permanent footing and extended to the Dublin 7 area. The Court uses a multi-disciplinary approach and involves a range of Government Departments and agencies charged with dealing with various aspects of the problem of drug misuse.

The Court operates with the assistance of a team which includes the judge, a probation and welfare officer, an addiction nurse, a Garda liaison officer and education/training representative and counsellors. My Department is currently examining the operation of the court and officials are looking at best practice elsewhere to see how the Court's throughput might be enhanced. There are plans to extend the concept to the rest of the Dublin Metropolitan District Court area on a phased basis and discussions with other agencies are ongoing in this regard.