There has been a "sea-change" in the areas around the State affected by heroin use, according to Mr Chris Flood, the Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy.
He was speaking after the announcement of the allocation of £15 million to local drugs task forces in areas of Dublin and Cork, as well as Bray in Co Wicklow. The task forces were established in communities worst affected by heroin abuse.
This latest financial allocation will be made available to the task forces over the next two years. It follows a u£25 million package of measures announced last April.
The Minister told The Irish Times that the money would assist about 800 people working in a voluntary capacity in these areas to fight the drug problem. He said there had been a lot of progress in local communities in fighting drug use.
Each task force will be asked to submit proposals to the Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation, which oversees the National Drugs Strategy. Mr Flood said the money would allow these communities to bring forward new projects.
Each area would have its own priorities "and we will be very flexible in deciding how the money is spent."
The areas that will benefit from the funding in Dublin are Ballyfermot, Ballymun, Blanchardstown, the Canal Communities (Rialto, Inchicore, Bluebell), Clondalkin, the north and south inner city; Dublin 12 (Crumlin, Drimnagh, Kimmage, Walkinstown), Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown; Finglas/Cabra; north east Dublin (Darndale, Killbarrack, Coolock) and Tallaght.
The two areas outside Dublin to receive money are north Cork city and Bray, Co Wicklow. Bray is the only addition to the original 12 local drugs task forces.
The Labour Party TD for Limerick East, Ms Jan O'Sullivan, said the Minister "clearly does not operate a policy which can truly be called national as he has ignored key areas of our country which need extra funding."
However, Mr Flood rejected Ms O'Sullivan's criticism at the exclusion of Limerick city from the scheme. He said the city had already received funding from other schemes and did not have a significant heroin problem like that in the areas covered by the task forces.
The Fine Gael spokesman on justice, Mr Jim Higgins, welcomed the additional funding but called for the introduction of intensive drugs education programmes in all primary schools in the major danger areas.