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THE GOVERNMENT HAS today announced that a new round of funding from the Dormant Accounts Fund is to be released.
In total, €2.7 million will be used for five measures co-ordinated by the HSE. Part of the fund will support initiatives aimed at preventing the misuse of drugs in communities.
Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy, Aodháin Ó Ríordáin said today the funding will enable local and regional drug and alcohol task forces to “undertake a range of coordinated activities aimed at raising awareness of drug and alcohol-related harm in local communities”.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, the junior minister emphasised the importance of these groups in tackling Ireland’s drug problem.
“Every drugs taksforce is difference because every area is different,” he said.
“Different groups know their area best and they know the age profile of the area, whether alcohol abuse is prevalent, they know about the off licence locally and can tap into it all better.”
To gain access to some of the funding available, groups can submit applications pitching their ideas for campaigns or for evidence based research.
Disability services and home carers
The money will also support a number of local disability services as well as respite services for people who have a disability. Included in these measures are health-related supports for young people aged 15 to 24 with disabilities and autism.
Further to this €2.7 million, the Department of Social Protection announced €1 million from the Dormant Accounts Fund will be used to support home carers. The new measure will be implemented by Pobal, which will take applications from the start of next month from eligible groups.
Project proposals which provide training, information and related support services to home carers will all be considered.
“The purpose of this measure will be to upskill carers to provide the best care possible, to reduce the risk of injury to the carer and to help them cope with the emotional and psychological aspects of their role,” Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton said today.
An account is considered dormant when there have been no customer-initiated transactions for 15 years.
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That money will disappear, never to be seen or heard of again.
Well I don’t think they expect it to send a postcard.
Is there nothing they wont stop at plundering. The owners or next of kin of these accounts could make better use of it, than letting into the hands of a quango like the HSE.
So why are we paying taxes then?? Rotten scam
3 articles down and €17million being invested into whiskey production … Oh the irony!
Thats private money, plus it’s creating jobs.
Those with disabilities and autism should take priority over drug users every time. Drugs are a choice in every case unless forced into the body of a person. Autism and the hardship endured by carers is not.
Disgraceful ! I don’t agree with that money being spent on drug rehab , spend it on something useful like new ambulances or incubators , something to save honest individual lives not junkies . There’s no hope for them , if they wanted to stay off drugs then they would , and I’m not naive, I know will power isn’t strong in some people but saving lives of people who can actually put back into the country’s pot is far better than postponing the inevitable demise of junkies
Ah now ah now I see your point but we can’t throw people out like trash. There are others like Michael Noonan who do more damage than all the junkies in dublin put together and you probably voted for him!!!!! Every time some one mentions benefit fraud I think of Hogan in Europe plenty posh hotels and fine dining and there are those 4000 teenagers losing their childhood to full time caring!!! Can any junkie beat alan dukes ?????
Wow what a pessimistic outlook…….,
Katie I didn’t vote Fine Gael , can’t stand their so called views and values , I’m not suggesting throwing people out like trash , the government already funds plenty of drug rehab projects, I’m talking about the SPARE money being used positively and productively for local communities with something that could benefit everyone not just a select few So I suggest a new ambulance that could save some lives , possibly even Junkies lived too !!!
They aren’t spending it on rehab though, they’re spending it on prevention programmes, showing the dangers and promoting abstinence. That’s my take on the article. That sort of one-pronged approach is working brilliantly with the AIDS crisis is Africa where no-one has sex and AIDS is virtually unheard of. Sure abstinence only programmes are the only way. Rehab schmehab.
I was just thinking about this yesterday, good to see this money going to use after all this time.
Spend the money on a 1000000 volt electric fence around spike island and send all the junkies out there..problem solved
What about the relatives of the account holders?
Let them do it to themselves, look after those on the trollies first in the hospitals but yet you know that the administration will use this money up first, clever sods.
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