Paul Murphy warns of cuts to drugs and alcohol task forces

Minister, I appreciate the fact that you are here to answer it, so I hope we will be able to get some information for the local drugs and alcohol task forces. These are the people who are doing the work on the front line in our communities affected by drug abuse. It seems like, and I am hoping to hear different from you today, but it seems like this government is continuing the policy that we have seen over the past ten years or so of effectively the slow strangulation of our drugs and alcohol task forces. We know that between 2015 to 2025 the overall health budget increased by 94.7%, so it almost doubled, and yet core funding for local drugs and alcohol task forces, funding, decreased by 4.5%. It appears, when the government is saying in the new budget, the kind of outcome of that for the task forces is that there is no cut to funding for community drug services in 2026. But when you dig into the detail, that does not seem to be the case. A few points. One, auto-enrolment. The first year cost of auto-enrolment for drugs task forces is going to be 1.5%. That is going to increase year on year, but in the first year you are talking about a cost of 1.5%. There is no funding provided to enable the task forces to meet that. That is a crisis for them. These people want, of course, their staff to be able to access pensions, but this needs to be resourced. Where are they meant to come up with this money? No uplift for these projects to cover the rising cost of living. So, it certainly looks like a cut there in core funding because extra costs are being put on them without extra resources being provided for it. Secondly, in relation to funding, it is concerning that in the fact sheet on the budget from yourself, there is no reference to DRIVE, Drug-related Intimidation and Violence Engagement, which is an interagency project to respond to drug-related intimidation. This is rolled out in different task forces across the country. I will give you an example. In my constituency in Whitechurch, where the Whitechurch Addiction Support Project supported through DRIVE, through funding of DRIVE, 75 families. These are families who are receiving threats from drug dealers. It is a horrific situation to be in. I have spoken to people in this situation myself many, many times. They were able to, because of DRIVE, hire a dedicated worker for families who are experiencing drug-related intimidation. They managed to get two-year funding for this from the Community Safety Innovation Fund. That funding has now ceased. And now, they do not know what they are going to do from the 1st of January. What support are they going to be able to provide for the 75 families that they were able to help in the last year? I hope that it is just an error and that funding is being provided for DRIVE. I look forward to the response on that. Separate from funding and linked to the general, I think it is very clear to me that the running down of the task forces from the top down effectively is the fact that they are not going to be included in the new reference group to support the implementation of the new national drugs strategy. The Department of Health is saying that we are going to be a cross-sectoral approach as opposed to representative. So, the people who are actually delivering these services on the ground, in Tala, in Whitechurch, in Ballymone, in places across the country that are suffering from deprivation and are experiencing drug abuse and all the problems that go with it, these people are not going to be listened to. There is a saying from the disability rights movement, nothing about us without us. And yet, here, the people who are on the ground providing the services are not being included in the implementation of the new national drug strategy. Thank you, Minister, you have four minutes. Thank you, Deputy, and I want to thank you for raising this very important issue within my own remiss. I am actually delighted to take this topical this morning. So, I will come back to you differently on your different pointers that you have given to me there. So, the national drug strategy, Reducing Harm, Support and Recovery, sets out the government strategy to address harm caused by substance misuse in Ireland up to 2025. So, work is ongoing in the development of a successor strategy. So, as you know, Deputy, we are working on that. And it is to do with everybody, and I am making sure that everybody is involved in it. I am keenly aware that the drug and alcohol task forces play a key role in implementing the national drug strategy at the local level. And that they evaluate the extent and nature of the drug problem and initiate an appropriate response so that there is a coordinated approach involving all sectors to the problem of substance use in local communities, and that local communities are consulted in the design and the delivery of services. So, I am very much aware of the work that the task force do, Deputy, and we have 24, and I can assure you that they will be very much involved in every part of our strategy and what we can do, because I want to compliment them, as you said, for their great work that they do. Officials in my department have regular engagements with the key representatives from the task force networks, and this presents an opportunity to discuss policy and operational issues affecting the task forces, and to hear firsthand about the issues of concern in local communities. So, we really know the role that they play, and we are very much aware and appreciative of the work that they do and the information that they give us. This informed decision makes it, you know, relative to allocate the funding and the provision of the services. This is how we look at the services, Deputy, and how we allocate the funding. So, the department allocated £161 million under the National Drug Strategy in 2023. So this represents an increase of 28% on the 2017 funding levels at the start of the outgoing strategy. So there has been an increase. In accordance with the population-based allocation model, all new funding for drug services is distributed under the remit of the HSE Health Regions, with service prioritised to be identified in consultation with relevant stakeholders, including our task forces. The Department of Health and the HSE provide approximately £28 million in funding to the 24 task forces, and again, as I said, we are very much mindful working with them. I have personally met most of the chairs myself, and I am working with them, because as I said, myself and the department, we do appreciate the work they are doing. This funding provides for the operation of approximately 280 drug and alcohol projects across the country. I remain committed to the strategic priority from the outgoing National Drug Strategy to enhance access to and delivery of drug and alcohol services in the community. I am delighted that budget 2024 and 2025 allocated a total of £10.2 million in the new reoccurring funding for drug services. In addition, 2024, an additional £2.3 million was provided for the community-based services, including £1.5 million to sustain existing services, and there is a £0.8 million to support the recovery of people from drug dependency and the integration into everyday life. Recently, Deputy, I announced details of a further £1.89 million for the community-based drug services in 2025 to be distributed through the health regions. This would be through the Community Services Enhancement Fund. The money will be used to improve access to services in unserviced communities to promote evidence-based innovations in service design and delivery and enhance services for people who use stimulant drugs. I have encouraged task forces to apply for this funding, so I am saying, and I will be working with all the task forces to apply for this funding. I am fully committed to the provision of drug, the drug and the alcohol treatment services to help it. Minister, you have two minutes after all the country. Thank you. You have two minutes. Thanks, Minister. I appreciate the answer. Obviously, you know and I know that the answer doesn't actually answer any of the points that I raised, so I am hoping in the two minutes' response next you will address these issues, because they are concerned. I appreciate that. You have the answer. You provide it. But this is causing real concern for task forces all across the country. I will repeat the basic points in terms of there is a cut to core funding of the task forces, because no funding has been provided for auto enrolment. Can you clarify if any extra funding is going to be provided to meet the 1.5% increase in costs in the first year? Secondly, in terms of additional, ongoing funding, uplift for the projects to cover the cost of living. Thirdly, to ask the question about DRIVE, which has been an important project, it's a national project, it's rolled out across the country and yet appears to have disappeared in terms of funding. There is still a website for it, talking about how good it is. There is a press release about it, but there is currently, as far as I can tell, no funding provided for it. And thirdly, in relation to the exclusion of the local drugs and alcohol task force from the reference group to support the implementation of the new national drug strategy. The Minister refers to the task forces as being an integral part of the delivery of this and yet it doesn't look like they are an integral part when they are not being included in it. I look forward to answers to those questions and I will repeat the point that it certainly looks to me, and I think it looks to many people on the ground, that there is a slow strangulation of these task forces that are providing the vital services on the front line, on the ground. And kind of applying for things like the Community Services Enhancement Fund is not, that is not a substitute to core funding. And that's what we hear from task forces all the time. It's not a substitute. We can't make long-term plans on the basis we apply for this grant now. We need to be able to have permanent staff, we need to be able to provide a future for those people, we need to be able to pay for their pensions. So the key thing is core funding. Thank you, Deputy. And then for two minutes. Thank you. And look at, thank you very much. And first of all, we can only just, again, and I can only just say, I am very much aware of the excellent work that the task forces deliver on. And they're very much part of what we see would be within the communities and see the services there that are needed. So working with the HSC and my own department, we understand we have 24 task forces. We will be including them in everything. We have an all-together group. Look, task forces and the HSC and all of us working together, this is just not about being excluded. I am making sure everyone is included. Anything to do with drugs and families to me is a huge concern in the sense that we are talking about people's lives here. So I can assure you that everybody will be included. Everybody, I will be working with the different groups, the reference group is set up, but I meet with the chairs of the task forces I have, will do so, will continue to do so. Because I, and I can, this needs to go back to your task force groups that you are working for, or working with. I can assure you I do appreciate the work they do. On the auto-enrollment, that is a, it's a full of government approach, working through the department, that is something the department are working on, just on, there has been no cuts to funding within the drugs, within my own sector. We have got an increase this year. And just on the drive, drive is something that I launched there recently. And I have to say, I am so proud of the work that drive does. And as you said, in White Church, 75 families were able to access this. This is something I have met a priority for. I absolutely will look into your area of White Church about the drive and this particularly. And I want to say well done to all the work that was done on that. 75 families getting help and support. That's what I'm there to do. Myself and the department are there to make sure that we have those services for our vulnerable families that need that support. And as I said, I will come back to you on that. And again, look, I can assure you, this new drug strategy is a key priority for me and the government. And I want to make sure that I'm also very mindful, Deputy, that drugs are not a Dublin issue. Drugs are a rural issue. It's all around Ireland. And I have to make sure with the great work that the task forces do, with the 24 of them, that I am looking at all services around the country to make sure that the families in need get it. And thank you again. It's a really important issue. Thank you for raising it today. Thank you, Minister.