War on drugs is not being won says Ahern

IRELAND is not winning the war on drugs, the minister of state with responsibility for drugs strategy and community affairs said yesterday.

Minister of State Noel Ahern said while heroin use had stabilised in Dublin it seemed to be growing in certain provincial towns, particularly Leinster towns such as Portlaoise, Athlone, Arklow and Carlow.

He said some wars could not be won, but the Government was doing what it could to combat the problem.

“We’re not winning it [the war on drugs]. There are some wars you cannot win,” said Mr Ahern.

“It’s a case of realising the situation, having a strategy in place to try and cope with that problem and funding that strategy. You don’t win the war overnight, it’s a long, slow process.”

He said the Government was spending up to €300 million a year on the area and that almost 8,000 drug addicts were now in treatment.

The Government allocation of between €250m and €300m, includes €43m by his own department, the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.

Mr Ahern announced further funding of €2.79m by his department yesterday for local projects.

He said €1.66m was being approved under the Young People’s Facilities and Services Fund (YPFSF), a mainly capital fund to build youth and sports facilities for children at risk of getting caught up in illegal drugs.

Mr Ahern said the fund was being expanded beyond Dublin and Cork into Waterford, Carlow and Limerick.

Some €520,000 is to be provided for a youth and community facility in Southhill in Limerick city.

Five projects in Waterford city are to receive current funding totalling €179,520.

Mr Ahern said €100m had been spent in YPFSF funds over the last 7 years and that 650 staff, including youth and sports officers, had been employed by it.

He also announced funding of €870,000 under the Emerging Needs Fund to 11 projects in Dublin and two in Cork, bringing to €4m total expenditure under that fund.

He said Government funds would be provided for facilities in towns, such as those affected in Leinster.

Responding to media coverage of open drug dealing in the centre of Dublin, Mr Ahern said this was largely due to the concentration of drug and homeless services in the city centre.

He said ideally he would like to move those services to the Docklands area of Dublin and have a bus shuttling addicts to and from various services there.

He said the open drug dealing and drug use was essentially a policing problem.