Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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159. To ask the Minister for Health if urgent consideration will be given to the need for increased funding to support the important work of the Tallaght Drugs and Alcohol Task Force in Dublin 24; his views on the major challenges faced by the task force; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38503/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Government is committed to continuing support for initiatives to tackle the drug problem. Accordingly, every effort has been made to protect the budgets of Drug and Alcohol Task Forces in recent years. In 2015, the overall allocation of Tallaght Local Drug and Alcohol Task Force was €1,234,952 of which €341,438 was provided from the Drugs Initiative of the Department of Health and €893,514 from the Health Service Executive. This was the same overall level of funding allocated in 2014.

Individual Task Forces will be advised shortly of their allocations for 2016. It is a matter for each Task Force to ensure that the annual budget is effectively deployed to address current priorities and locally identified needs.