Gino Kenny: I thank everybody for their statements thus far. I have a question for the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, regarding the additional funding this year. Will he give a breakdown on this? I am reading a breakdown of the additional funding in the press release and it gives a breakdown but the drugs task forces in the country will say that funding has been reduced, particularly in the last ten years. In 2012, €20 million was put towards harm reduction and so forth in drug task forces across the country. Now, the figure is less than €20 million. Will the Minister of State give a breakdown on the additional funding and where it is going?

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Colm Burke): The additional funding in budget 2025 is €4.2 million. An additional 34 whole-time-equivalents will be employed. Some €2 million will be allocated to expand community-based drug services. Some €1 million will be allocated for the national roll-out of the community alcohol service, and that includes the employment of 24 whole-time equivalents. There is €500,000 for drug prevention and public health awareness, and €3 million for research evaluation and international collaboration. The total in real terms will be €5.4 million when we roll it out. That is in the drugs area and is for 2025. It is not the 2024 budget, it is the additional funding for 2025.

Gino Kenny: Does the Minister of State accept that in terms of the overall harm reduction budget and the money that is given towards task forces across the country, there has been a reduction, particularly in the last 12 years? Obviously, he is only in the position a number of months but does he accept that in 2012 more money was being allocated towards task forces than there is now?

Deputy Colm Burke: There is a substantial increase in the overall budget for 2025. It is going to be the biggest budget ever in real terms. I will get the correct figure for the Deputy but the increase in total is the biggest figure. For instance, the total increase in funding is €40.5 million for the coming year. There is a €10.1 million increase for pay awards agreements. Some €5 million has been allocated for homeless services, including Housing First. The total additional funding in this particular area is €40.5 million. Some €1.5 million is being allocated for the drug and alcohol task force. This funding will support the co-ordination role of the 24 drug and alcohol task forces across the country, including the increased demand for services, especially cocaine use services. Therefore, there is an increase in the budget and it is substantial in real terms.

Deputy Gino Kenny: Yes, I accept that but many people on the ground who are at the coalface will say there needs to be much more funding in terms of the evolution of drug dependency and drug use in communities. That has to be acknowledged.

Deputy Colm Burke: As the Deputy knows, we hope to have the supervised injection facility in Merchants Quay opened by the end of the year. I have been there and I have seen the progress being made in the building work. The target is to have it opened by early to mid-December. That is a really important facility that needs to be open. As the Deputy knows, the initial proposal on that was going back to 2019. It went through various planning difficulties but now we have everyone on board. I will have to sign the licence for that to be opened. There is co-ordination between An Garda Síochána and the health services right across the board to make sure we have everyone in support of this facility.

Deputy Mary Butler: I will come in there as it is something that overlaps both our briefs. As the Deputy would know, in 2023, I launched the clinical programme for dual diagnosis, which supports service users who present with mental health and a substance use disorder. In the mental health budget, there were 210 new whole-time equivalents. Ten of those posts are specifically for dual diagnosis to start up two teams. We want to move on the Keltoi programme as well in Dublin. It is a day centre at the moment but we want to move it to have inpatient beds. There is a lot of work being done on this programme to get it over the line. As I said, we only rolled out the clinical model of care in 2023 so I was delighted to secure the funding to invest ten whole-time equivalents into it in budget 2025. It will be a huge interaction going forward between the addiction and the mental health pieces.

Deputy Gino Kenny: Thanks a lot.

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