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26/02/2015
Govt Urged To Re-Establish Minister For Drugs Post
The government has been urged to re-establish the Office of the Minister for Drugs to spearhead a new National Drugs Strategy.
Fianna Fáil spokesperson on justice and equality, Niall Collins, made the call following a visit to the Merchants Quay Ireland Homeless and Drugs Services Centre in Dublin on Wednesday.
The ministerial post was abolished when Fine Gael and Labour came to power.
"The National Drugs Strategy which was published by Fianna Fáil in 2009 has been left without a champion in Government," Deputy Collins said.
"As a result key actions in the Strategy are failing to be implemented and the drugs crisis is worsening in our urban areas by the day. No one is monitoring the success or failure of drugs treatment or rehabilitation in Government.
"The Drugs Strategy currently falls under the remit of the Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar since the cabinet reshuffle last summer. As we all know, that Minister is already struggling to cope with the waiting list crisis in his Department and has so far failed to make an impact there.
"I am calling on the Government to re-establish the Office of Minister for Drugs in order to bring greater political priority to tackling the drugs crisis in Ireland."
He added: "All stakeholders agreed that the National Drugs Strategy, which runs until 2016, was an excellent blueprint on which to build a coherent Government strategy to address this crisis. It appears to me as if the Government have either forgotten about the strategy or are simply ignoring it because it is not a priority for them."
(MH/JP)
Fianna Fáil spokesperson on justice and equality, Niall Collins, made the call following a visit to the Merchants Quay Ireland Homeless and Drugs Services Centre in Dublin on Wednesday.
The ministerial post was abolished when Fine Gael and Labour came to power.
"The National Drugs Strategy which was published by Fianna Fáil in 2009 has been left without a champion in Government," Deputy Collins said.
"As a result key actions in the Strategy are failing to be implemented and the drugs crisis is worsening in our urban areas by the day. No one is monitoring the success or failure of drugs treatment or rehabilitation in Government.
"The Drugs Strategy currently falls under the remit of the Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar since the cabinet reshuffle last summer. As we all know, that Minister is already struggling to cope with the waiting list crisis in his Department and has so far failed to make an impact there.
"I am calling on the Government to re-establish the Office of Minister for Drugs in order to bring greater political priority to tackling the drugs crisis in Ireland."
He added: "All stakeholders agreed that the National Drugs Strategy, which runs until 2016, was an excellent blueprint on which to build a coherent Government strategy to address this crisis. It appears to me as if the Government have either forgotten about the strategy or are simply ignoring it because it is not a priority for them."
(MH/JP)
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