Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 75: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the services in place to deal with children from the ages of ten to 18 years who are susceptible to drug misuse; the way the new national drugs strategy will focus on young people under 18 years who are at risk of addiction or who are already addicted to one or more drugs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8850/09]

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the HSE has statutory responsibility for the provision of treatment services for under-18s who report with problem substance use. I understand from them that under-18s are prioritised for treatment as they present.

Three actions in the current National Drugs Strategy relate to provision of treatment services for young people. These involve the development and implementation of guidelines for treatment of under-18s, access to counselling services and the incorporation of family therapy in the treatment provided.

Guidelines for treatment of under-18s were developed by the HSE in 2006 and these are now being utilised in the development of services across the HSE regions. While services in some areas are readily available, the ease of access to treatment services across all HSE regions is not uniform. However, significant improvements are being made in the effort to expand services across the country and to have counselling and family therapy readily accessible. Meanwhile, services for under-18s developed by Local Drugs Task Force projects have complemented HSE services, with counselling and family therapy services available in some locations.

While acknowledging that methadone treatment is not appropriate for all under-18s who become involved with heroin use, the HSE advises that there are no waiting lists for access to a methadone programme for this cohort.

More generally, there is a recognition that problem substance use by young people is not usually attributable to any single factor — rather a number of wider societal risk factors have been shown by research to be evident among many reporting with problem substance use. Therefore, addressing the needs of the under-18 age group, and particularly those at risk among that cohort, is a priority not just for the National Drugs Strategy, but also across the relevant statutory agencies. Policies are being developed and implemented by a number of Departments and agencies to address these risk factors through the provision of youth supports and services. These services have been consolidated within the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs.

Meanwhile, as the Deputy is aware, work is ongoing on the formulation of the new Drugs Strategy and I expect to receive the recommendations of the Steering Group in the coming weeks. I would envisage that the need for continued and renewed emphasis on the provision of services for under-18s who report with problem substance use will feature in their proposals.