Drug services having to turn people away due to lack of funding

Cork LDATF chairman Aaron O’Connell said the problem with crack cocaine in Cork is 'not as acute' but is 'emerging more and more'. Picture: Getty

Frontline community drug services are having to turn vulnerable people away or ask them to come back a few weeks later due to a lack of funding.

They have said the services are now on "life support" and begged the Government to help them with funding.

The Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces (LDATF) — mostly based in Dublin but also in Cork and other areas of the country — said the lack of core funding for its services is unsustainable as it faces a huge increase in demand for their services at a local level.

It said crack cocaine is increasingly becoming a problem, with a more than 400% increase in such cases since 2014.

Thomas Gilson, project manager at the Jobstown Assisting Drug Dependency project in Dublin, said services in the area were already stretched before the current crack cocaine crisis.

“But now we are seeing over 200 people with crack cocaine-related issues engaging with our assertive outreach team, on top of an already stretched seven-day per week service,” he said.

We are doing our best, but the reality is we are being asked to do a lot more with a lot less.

“We are supposed to be providing innovative solutions to community problems, but a lot of the time our energy and innovation is focused on governance and how to respond to the huge increase in demand for our services.” 

Cork LDATF chairman Aaron O’Connell said the problem with crack cocaine in Cork is “not as acute” but is “emerging more and more”.

“If it’s left to fester, it’ll become more difficult to arrest this,” he said. 

“In Dublin, they’re struggling not just because of an increase in demand, but a decrease in funding too relative to inflationary pressures.

When something happens in Dublin, the trends usually follow in Cork and the other cities.

“If you’re ahead of the game and watching what’s happening, you can take actions to head it off as quickly as possible.” 

Mr O’Connell said an integrated model of care is essential, with various services working together in a coordinated fashion to provide the most effective supports to vulnerable persons.

He said the likes of Section 39 and community organisations are particularly vital, as they have an “ear to the ground” in local communities, but a lack of funding for them is harming their recruitment and retention, and leading to staff burnout.

In the upcoming budget, LDATF chairpeople across the country are asking for a €3m increase in Budget 2024 to sustain their essential functions.

They said that the “lack of sustained, adequate core funding since 2012” has eroded the ability of these local task forces to address current and emerging drug and alcohol challenges and trends in their local areas.

Spokesperson Andrew Montague said: “Our work is at the coal face working directly with affected communities, and we are uniquely placed to help identify needs and develop strategies to address those needs.

“But unfortunately in some cases, we are forced to turn people away and deny them the services they need, due to lack of funding.” 

Mr O’Connell added that, for staff members on the frontline, that would be the most difficult thing they would ever have to do.

“Who wants to turn someone away?” he said. “We should never leave ourselves in this scenario, but here we are.”