Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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In line with the National Drugs Strategy, the Government is committed to continuing support for initiatives to tackle the drug problem. Reflecting this commitment, an additional €3 million in funding has been allocated to the HSE this year to improve addiction services. The increased budget includes provision of €0.75m to enable the establishment of a pilot Supervised Injecting Facility in the second half of the year. The remainder of the funding will be used to provide more detox places, improve access to under-18 treatment services and to enable the roll out of Suboxone on a phased basis, to patients who are not clinically suitable for methadone treatment.

Drug and Alcohol Task Forces play a key role in assessing the extent and nature of the drug problem in their areas and in coordinating action at local level, so that there is a targeted response to the problem of substance misuse in local communities. Every effort has been made to protect the budgets of Drug and Alcohol Task Forces in recent years. In excess of €27.6m will be allocated to Task Forces by the HSE and the Department of Health for community-based drugs initiatives this year. This level of funding is consistent with the amounts provided in 2014, 2015 and 2016. It is a matter for Task Forces to ensure that their budgets are effectively deployed to address current priorities and locally identified needs