Written answers

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Department of Health

National Drugs Strategy Implementation

Photo of Michael McCarthyMichael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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435. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to allocate responsibility for the national drugs strategy to an existing Minister of State in view of the seriousness of the issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12664/15]

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The National Drugs Strategy 2009-2016 is a cross cutting area of public policy and service delivery which requires a coordinated response to tackling the drugs problem. As Minister for Health, I have overall responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy at Government level. The Oversight Forum on Drugs, which I chair, is responsible for the high-level monitoring of the implementation of the Strategy across Government Departments and agencies, and solid progress is being made in delivering on its actions.

I am fully committed to the drugs brief, and am eager to tackle the issues in the area in as comprehensive a way as possible. My Department is beginning work on the development of a new National Drugs Strategy for the period after 2016 and as Minister with lead responsibility for drugs policy, I will play an active role in the development of the new Strategy. I look forward to engaging with all interested parties in this work.

It is a matter for the Taoiseach in the first instance to determine the approach to the allocation of portfolios to Ministers of State.

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