Through Actions 1 – 4, the DATF will develop, support and coordinate preventive activities and projects, thereby protecting young people and children from harms arising from and associated with problem drug and alcohol use, with particular attention to increasing resilience, strengthening life-skills and healthy life choices, across a variety of school, community and family settings.

Through Actions 5 – 8, and in partnership with Community Addiction Team (CAT)5 , and the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Outreach Project (DROP)6 — joint leads — the DATF will continue to support and collaborate with Health Service Executive (HSE) clinical teams in responding to people with addiction problems and also in assisting the roll-out of health-diversion when this commences7 . In addition the DATF will continue to promote and support the development of direct intervention services for young people who are affected by substance misuse, in conjunction with the HSE Youth Drug and Alcohol Service (YoDA)8 and directly through its support to MY Project (Mounttown)9 — lead partner — and CAT (Youth)10. The DATF also remains committed to supporting the provision of direct services and interventions in families where children have been impacted by substance misuse. The lead project in developing this programme will continue to be Barnardos11, and it is also supported by the MY project (Mounttown).

The DATF will continue to support communities who have been particularly impacted by substance misuse, especially in instances where these problems contribute to further community alienation, potentially leading to criminality and anti-social behaviour associated with the drug trade. The DATF is committed to developing a greater local presence for its services and in ensuring funded services have outreach capabilities and also through making direct linkages with other relevant services and bodies in order to support this work.

The DATF will continue the process of ongoing review and monitoring, towards improving structures, activities and programmes. It has previously used World Café and other participatory mechanisms to draw in new viewpoints and perspectives and will continue to do so in rolling out this new Strategic Plan, a process that will be enhanced by new training initiatives, research and workshops, thereby enhancing capacity-building in the area.