Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 11: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the frustration of community based drug services with delays in response and delays in funding since the demise of the national drugs strategy committee and the subsuming of its powers and decision making capability into his Department; the loss of the expertise the NDSC had built up over the years; the steps he will take to speed up the delivery of services to the community drugs groups. [8247/10]

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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The Office of the Minister for Drugs (OMD) was established under the National Drugs Strategy 2009-2016 to facilitate greater cohesion in policy-making and service delivery. All financial matters are now overseen by the OMD, which includes the allocation of annual budgets to the Drugs Task Forces and associated payments.

The OMD formally approved funding to the Drugs Task Forces in regard to their 2010 allocations on 22nd December 2009. As part of the approval process, the relevant funding agencies were also advised. In this context, the Deputy should note that payments do not directly issue to projects from my Department. Rather, funding is channelled through various Departments and agencies which reflect the focus of the project(s) in question and those bodies have ultimate responsibility for the release of my Department's funding to the projects on the ground.

The timing and value of payments issuing from my Department to the relevant funding bodies is, of course, inextricably linked to the timing and value of their respective claims to the Department. In this regard, I would like to assure the Deputy that every effort is made to process and expedite payments in the timeliest manner. Payment is predicated on claims being made in the prescribed format and with all the requisite supporting information being provided.

Of the completed claims received up to last Friday, 12th February, I understand that, with the exception of one claim, all payments have issued. Claims are being received on an ongoing basis and are being processed accordingly.

The Deputy will, of course, appreciate that there are several factors that determine the release of funding, e.g. number and timing of payment runs and the subsequent transfer of funds through the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) system. While the EFT system represents significant benefits in terms of speed, there are set working days required to affect the transactions.

My Department is very aware of the significance of funding being with the projects as early as possible in the year to obviate any undue hardship. To support this, arrangements were made in December 2009 to provide salary advances for the first two weeks of January 2010 to those projects, identified by the Drugs Task Forces, that might have been under financial pressure.

While every effort is made by my Department to facilitate timely and prompt payments to drugs projects, it must be pointed out that this is also contingent on the co-operation and engagement of the other stakeholders involved. In all cases, cognisance is taken of due process while also respecting all appropriate and requisite financial parameters.

I fully acknowledge the work carried out by the former National Drugs Strategy Team (NDST) over the years, However, I do not believe that the expertise and knowledge garnered over the years has, in any way, gone to waste. A number of the former NDST representatives - from across the different sectors - now serve on the Drugs Advisory Group which was established under the new Strategy. The role of Group is to advise me on operational matters relating to the Strategy.

Finally, the Deputy will wish to note that, as previously indicated, it is my intention, during 2010, to review the funding procedures in place in relation to drugs initiatives to see whether any adjustments are necessary.