Fine Gael    National Press Office    Press Release

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Heroin increase outside of Dublin is due to Govt failure on regional task forces – O’Dowd

Fergus O’Dowd TD, Fine Gael Spokesperson on Community Affairs has today (Friday) condemned the evasive attitude of Minister Noel Ahern towards the heroin crisis developing in the counties surrounding Dublin.

“Research conducted by the National Health Research Board has revealed that the use of heroin has grown four times since 1997 in areas just outside of Dublin. Earlier in the week, the Director of the Merchant Quay Project, Tony Geoghegan, strongly criticised Minister Ahern for failing to do enough to tackle the heroin crisis. Alarm bells are going off everywhere but Minister Ahern remains non-committal about funding for organisations that tackle heroin abuse, preferring instead to play down the scale of the problem and dodge questions on the need for an urgent increase in funding for drug abuse support and treatment services.

“Minister Ahern offers cold comfort to those most affected by the spread of heroin to the regions. By assuring the public, that the Regional Drugs Task Forces are examining these problems, the Minister is failing to recognise that areas such as Carlow, Wicklow, Louth, Meath, Longford and Westmeath, where this problem is most severe, cannot afford to wait for the Task Forces to report. The Minister is glossing over the true facts of the growth of heroin use in these areas. The Minister knows full well that despite the National Drugs Strategy being established in 2001, it was three years before the Regional Task Forces were actually operational and even today, their limited ‘administrative budgets’ of around €100,000 each is allowing them to do little more than carry out research rather than put in place the services needed.

“The Government’s approach to this problem is, as always, too little much too late. Minister Ahern, on last night’s Prime Time programme, refused to commit himself to putting the necessary funding in place to comprehensively tackle the spread of heroin.  The public can have no confidence that the Government views this problem with any sense of urgency. There may have been much talk in recent weeks about the emergence of a new caring, compassionate FF-PD Government, but those battling addiction appear unlikely to benefit from its alleged sympathetic side anytime in the near future.”