Thirteen local drugs' task forces are seeking a meeting with the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance to press for the restoration of a £20 million funding scheme.
In a letter to Mr Ahern and Mr McCreevy, the 13 task force chairmen and chairwomen express their "deep disappointment and sense of disillusionment" at the Government's failure to maintain the £20 million allocation over three years for the youth services development fund.
"This budget was sanctioned by the previous government and prior to the election we were led to believe that it would continue to be honoured by a new FF-PD administration," they add.
They say that credibility can be given to the Government's drugs' policy by restoring the fund and ensuring that it will be aimed at those disadvantaged areas with a significant drug problem. The fund was a key recommendation in the second report of the ministerial task force on measures to reduce the demand for drugs and was designed to provide services for young people in disadvantaged areas. It was sanctioned by the Coalition government in May last year, with a commitment of £20 million between 1998 and 2000, with the corporate sector also invited to make a contribution.
The Minister of State with responsibility for the national drugs strategy team, Mr Chris Flood, has insisted the £20 million allocation was "aspirational". He has announced a seed grant of £1.25 million for the scheme, and it is not clear how much further funding will follow. A spokesman for Mr Flood has said it is a matter for "Government deliberation".
The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, has called on the Taoiseach to reinstate the £20 million fund and increase it substantially. "There must be an alternative lifestyle for young people. Otherwise they will have nowhere to turn but to the nightmare world of narcotics," he said. The Dublin City-Wide Drugs Crisis Campaign is organising a demonstration by young people outside the Dail when it resumes next week.