Home > Dail Eireann debate. Written answer 253 - Departmental expenditure [Justice] [20958/09].

[Oireachtas] Dail Eireann debate. Written answer 253 - Departmental expenditure [Justice] [20958/09]. (26 May 2009)

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253. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his Department’s annual spend on tackling problematic alcohol and illegal drug use respectively for each of the past three years.  [20958/09]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Deputy Dermot Ahern):  The Deputy will appreciate that it can be difficult to arrive at an accurate estimate of costs within the criminal justice system associated specifically with drug misuse as services such as An Garda Síochána, the Prisons, the Courts and Probation Service all deal with drugs issues as a part of their wider daily remit, as indeed do a number of officials of this Department as a feature of their designated employment.

I have, therefore, confined details of this Department’s direct drugs-related expenditure to the following specific programmes and initiatives:

(i) Garda Youth Diversion Programme;

(ii) Community based projects funded through the Probation Service which deal with substance abuse, treatment and aftercare;

(iii) The National Drug Related Death Index;

(iv) Drug Court;

(v) Dial to stop drug dealing initiative The details of the expenditure on these programmes for each of the past three years are shown on the following table.

Programme 2006 Spend 2007 Spend 2008 Spend
  €m €m €m
(i) Garda Youth Diversion Programme 6.65 9.80 8.40
(ii) Community based projects funded through the Probation Service with deal with substance abuse, treatment, and aftercare 2.44 2.63 2.30
(iii) National Drug Related Index 0.11 0.11 0.11
(iv) Drug Court 0.33 0.35 0.27
(v) Dial to stop drug dealing initiative* 0.00 0.00 0.05
Total 9.53 12.89 11.13

*This programme only began during 2008.

I am advised that my Department has no readily available separate data in relation to its annual spend concerning the tackling of alcohol use.

Finally I should advise the Deputy that recently the Government directed that alcohol will be included in the development of an overall National Substance Misuse Strategy for the period 2010-2016 on which work will begin next Autumn. This Strategy will incorporate the soon to be finalised interim National Drugs Strategy.

As a feature of this I am informed that it is intended to develop an overall performance management framework for this Strategy across all Departments and Agencies to assess and monitor progress. This should, therefore, assist in the future provision of expenditure data relating to the tackling of problematic alcohol and drug misuse.

Vol. 683 No. 3
Written Answers
Tuesday, 26 May 2009

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