Madam, - I want to take issue with the comments made by the Labour Party spokesperson on Justice, Mr Joe Costello, TD, at the launch of his party's submission to the mid-term review of the National Drugs Strategy (The Irish Times, October 12th). His attempt to denigrate the priority and huge level of funding that has been given to tackling drug misuse is not just disappointing but flies in the face of reality.
In the interests of accuracy, I think it is worth pointing out that to date the Government has allocated or spent over €80 million to implement about 500 projects contained in two rounds of plans of the Local Drugs Task Forces; €12.8 million under the LDTF Premises Initiative, which is designed to meet the accommodation needs of community-based drugs projects, the majority of which are in LDTF areas; and over €75 million to support about 450 facilities and services under the Young People's Facilities and Services Fund.
This huge level of funding is in addition to over €220 million invested in addiction services by the health boards since 1996. Combating the scourge of drug abuse is a priority for Fianna Fáil in Government and I am confident that substantial resources will continue to be directed towards the problem over the coming years. - Yours, etc.,
BILLY KELLEHER, TD,
Deputy Government
Chief Whip,
Dáil Éireann,
Dublin 2.