EOIN RYAN TD,
Sir, - I would like to respond to Declan Fahy's report in your edition of March 28th on the emergence of a heroin problem in Portlaoise.
As Minister of State with special responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy, I am very aware from my dealings with the Garda Síochána and the health authorities that heroin is becoming a problem in a number of urban centres outside Dublin and Cork.
In response to this situation and to the growing prevalence of other types of illicit drug misuse throughout the country, regional drugs task forces are being established in all the health board areas, as a vital element in the Government's National Drugs Strategy.
The new task forces will bring together all the State agencies involved in the field of drug misuse as well as the voluntary and community sectors, in order to agree a comprehensive plan to tackle drug misuse in their regions.
In preparing these plans, the task forces will identify and address gaps in service provision, including treatment programmes for heroin users where these are required.
This type of co-ordinated and multi-disciplinary approach has proved very effective in the 14 local drugs task forces areas which have a long history of heroin misuse and I am confident that it will prove equally successful in dealing with an emerging problem in towns such as Portlaoise. - Yours, etc.,
EOIN RYAN TD,
Minister of State for Local
Development and with special
responsibility for the
National Drugs Strategy,
Kildare Street,
Dublin 2.