Home > Dail Eireann debate. Written answer 338 - National Drugs Strategy [10356/11].

[Oireachtas] Dail Eireann debate. Written answer 338 - National Drugs Strategy [10356/11]. (10 May 2011)

External website: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2...


336.  Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Health and Children her plans to restructure the local drugs task force to make them more answerable to her and the communities they serve; the steps she has taken to ensure that the drugs task force operate in an open and transparent manner; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10356/11]  

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Deputy Róisín Shortall): Action 62 of the National Drugs Strategy (interim) 2009-2016 provides for a review of Drugs Task Forces, including inter alia, a review of their boundaries. The objective of the review is to ensure that maximum benefit is achieved from the activities of Drugs Task Forces, that best value is achieved from the financial and staff resources available, and that effort is targeted to maintain progress made and address new and emerging issues.
 
The National Drugs Strategy also provides for measures to strengthen the governance and accountability of Drugs Task Forces. In line with the Strategy, Drugs Task Forces are required to report on their activities, including their broader strategic and co-ordination work, during 2010 and their action plans for 2011. The reports will also provide a profile of Drugs Task Force projects, including an assessment of the projects as a group, in addressing the local drugs problem. In this context, the reporting process will feed into the Article 62 review, which I referred to above. The reports from the Drugs Task Forces, together with the annual report from the Oversight Forum on Drugs, which monitors progress at national level, will form the basis for a national review of outputs and outcomes under the Strategy.
 
Written Answers - National Drugs Strategy
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Vol. 731 No. 5 (Unrevised)

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