Speaking Notes for Mr. John Curran T.D.

Minister of State at the

Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs

 

Rattoo Heritage Society Conference

 

2:20pm on Friday 5th March 2010

 

Manor West Hotel, Tralee, Co Kerry

 

 

 

 

 

Ladies and Gentleman,

 

It gives me great pleasure to be here with you this afternoon to officially launch the Rattoo Heritage Society’s Annual Kerry Environmental Recognition Conference. 

 

As many of you will know, the Taoiseach launched the National Drugs Strategy in September 2009 and I am confident that the implementation of the National Drugs Strategy (NDS) 2009-2016 will provide a comprehensive response to problem drug use in Ireland, and good progress is being made on its implementation.

 

The Strategy seeks to tackle the harm caused to individuals and society by the misuse of drugs through a concerted focus on the five pillars of supply reduction, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and research. I believe that the actions set out in the Strategy will facilitate a planned and monitored approach to achieving the overall strategic objective.

 

As part of the NDS, I will be meeting twice a year with a number of Ministers and various senior officials who are tasked with implementing various actions.  I completed the first round of such meetings before Christmas and as part of that process, I stressed the need for Departments and agencies to ensure that high priority is given to achieving the objectives of the Strategy.  These meetings facilitated a good exchange of views, and they also focused on the importance of the continued effective implementation of other programmes that impact on the broader issues underpinning problem drug use.

 

A number of the actions of the NDS focus on co-ordination arrangements for its implementation, and some changes have been made to the institutional structures involved, including the establishment of an Office of the Minister for Drugs.  I believe that these changes will streamline administration and facilitate more effective co-ordination and partnership.

 

We have also established a Drugs Advisory Group, with membership from across the statutory, community and voluntary sectors.  This Group, which meets regularly, advises me on operational matters relating to the NDS and oversees and supports the work of the Drugs Task Forces.

 

An Oversight Forum on Drugs, which I chair, has also been established and meets on a quarterly basis. I am determined that real progress will be made across the period of the Strategy with all sectors working in a co-ordinated and targeted way to achieve the implementation of the agreed actions.

 

In relation to the Headshops question, as Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy I welcome the decision to ban products sold in Headshops and the Government has given the Department of Health the go ahead to ban a range of dangerous substances that have been freely on sale in Headshops.  Products known as Spice, Charge+, Snow Blow, White Ice, BZP Derivatives and Mephedrone, have all been added to a list for banning in Ireland.

 The Government will notify the EU of this list and by June these products will be illegal for sale or possession. My Department is currently looking at other measures to regulate this industry by way of planning laws and consumer laws.  In addition the National Advisory Committee on Drugs and the Gardaí will continue to monitor products that are sold in Headshops.  Any product that proves to have any detrimental health affects will be added to this controlled list for banning.

 

However, notwithstanding these developments, it is also important that communities themselves are proactive in tackling the problem of drug supply in their areas and that is why I am so pleased to be involved here today.

 

In the second half of last year I visited all of the Drugs Task Force areas.  I have met with representatives of the various Task Forces; projects and people from the community and voluntary sectors and I have been impressed by the general quality of the projects and by the commitment of those working on the ground.

 

It is an important role for this Government to tackle the problems associated with drug misuse and the enthusiasm and co-operation in fora such as these can only validate the work we do.  As Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy, I have seen the harm caused by drug misuse to both individuals and communities.

 

This harm manifests itself in many ways, in the negative health and socio-economic impacts that drug misuse has on families and in the threat of intimidation and violence orchestrated and perpetrated by the gangs supplying these drugs in our communities.

 

Over the past two years almost €580,000 has been allocated to 6 projects in Kerry under the Southern RDTF. This has supported a range of Treatment/Rehab and Education/Prevention type initiatives such as:

• A programme for clubs, pubs and Off-licences which trains staff in developing appropriate response to alcohol and drug misuse
• Support for persons engaging with rehabilitation services for drug and alcohol misuse and
• A programme to support young people displaying signs of problematic drug and alcohol misuse which provides counselling and treatment referral.

 

In addition to this, €25,000 was recently awarded to 3 groups under the Capital Premises fund allowing for the refurbishment of a premises and the provision of office equipment.

 

The further development of prevention measures aimed primarily at those deemed to be most at risk of becoming involved in illegal drug use, and at the younger adult population generally, is a crucial element of the new Strategy.

 

In the school setting, the Walk Tall and Social Personal Health Education (SPHE) programmes, at Primary and Second Level respectively, are generally agreed to be conceptually sound and in line with the best evidence-based practice on prevention.  The challenge is to deliver these programmes in the most effective way, across the whole school environment, to better equip all our children to handle the real dangers that they will face.

 

As many of you know, the Office of the Minister for Drugs (OMD) was established to subsume the functions previously undertaken by the National Drugs Strategy Team and the Drugs Strategy Unit of my Department.  I am determined to tackle the issue of problem substance use over the coming years and I believe the National Drugs Strategy 2009-2016 will facilitate this.  I will also be ensuring that work presses ahead on the development of a National Substance Misuse Strategy, incorporating alcohol issues.

 

In relation to alcohol, a Steering Group, comprising representatives of the statutory, community, voluntary and industry sectors, was established last November to develop proposals and make recommendations on a National Substance Misuse Strategy.  The Group is jointly chaired by officials from my Department and the Department of Health and Children.

 

The primary objective of the Group is:

• to identify effective policies and actions to tackle the harm caused to individuals and society by alcohol use and misuse; and
• to make proposals on a combined policy that will incorporate the National Drugs Strategy 2009-2016, which was published last year.

 

I applaud events such as your conference here in Tralee.  The holding of such events illustrates the nationwide extent of the drugs and alcohol problems and I hope that, through the formal deliberations, and the broader sharing of ideas, that it plays some small part in preventing problems for individuals and their families.

 

Finally, I would like to congratulate and thank all those involved who have invested their time, energy and know-how into this conference.

 

Thank you.