John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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1397. To ask the Minister for Health the consultative process being undertaken with regard to the development of a new national drugs strategy; the consultative meetings to date; the progress to date; if there will be new and additional funding made available to actively promote a national awareness and prevention campaign similar in scale to the national road safety campaigns of the past ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25946/16]

Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, a Steering Committee, with an independent chair, has been established to advise me on a new National Drugs Strategy, which will commence in 2017, when the current policy expires. On 6 September, I announced the details of a public consultation in order to assist the Steering Committee determine the key priorities to be addressed in the new Strategy. The public consultation will take place over a six week period and end on 18 October. A report on the consultation process will be prepared by independent consultants engaged by the Department and submitted to the Steering Committee to inform their deliberations.

In order to provide a nationwide perspective on the drug problem, regional consultation events have been held in Carrick on Shannon, Limerick and Cork. The next event will take place in Dublin on 19 September. Due to the level of interest in the public consultation, additional events will take place in Galway on 30 September and Kilkenny on 3 October. People can also provide their feedback by making a written submission, completing an online questionnaire or using a lo-call phone line. Further information about the consultation process can be found on the Department of Health website at www.health.gov.ie/drugs-strategy/.

The provision of resources to support the implementation of the new Strategy, including initiatives in the awareness and prevention area, will be determined in the context of the estimates process.