Sinn Féin spokesperson on Addiction, Recovery and Wellbeing has today called on the Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy to publish a report that was commissioned into the North Inner City Taskforce. His comments come as the Minister announced that the Taskforce was to be reconstituted with an entirely new Board.

Teachta Gould said:

“The previous Minister, Frank Feighan, gave a commitment to undertake a report that would decide on the best course of action for the Taskforce. It is shocking that Minister Naughton would announce such huge changes to the make-up of the Taskforce without publishing the report.

“This decision has huge implications for Taskforces across the state. There is real fear that the government will do anything they can to erode taskforce autonomy and end localised decision-making. Independent Taskforces are a cornerstone in our approach to community addiction services and they play a vital role in supporting proactive, community-focused approaches to addiction.

“We are still awaiting publication of the new Taskforce Handbook. If the government took the community addiction sector seriously, we would see a concerted effort to give decision-making back to Taskforces. Instead, they erode this with every step they take.

“There is an existing Board of Directors for the North Inner City LDATF. These are people who have done their best to keep things working since the government stepped in to shut the Taskforce down. We still have no clear answers as to why this was allowed to happen – governance has been referenced but no clarity has been given on what that actually means.

“Local Drug and Alcohol Taskforces need a government who stands up for them, a government who believes in their autonomy and a government who promotes accountability and transparency. Dismantling functioning organisations, without any given reason, does not give people confidence that Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil can deliver for the community addiction sector.”