THE President, Mrs Robinson, said she did not think she had officially opened "a more important conference in my six years plus as President of Ireland".
She was speaking yesterday at the beginning of the two day conference, "Drugs in Dublin - Working Together We Can Make a Difference", which has been organised by Dublin Corporation and takes place at Dublin Castle.
Supported by the Eastern Health Board and the Garda Siochana, it is being attended by 25 experts on the drugs problem as well as representatives of more than 160 community groups from Dublin city and county.
"It is the issue people raise all the time," the President said, recalling "going around as President" to city communities, and remembering "the frustration, anger, and determination to fight back", among the people. "It is the major issue we have to deal with," she said.
For her the experience "was a very personal one" and she spoke in particular of a visit to the SALE project in Amiens Street, and listening to the stories told by people there.
In 1995, the number of those in the greater Dublin area presenting for drug treatment was 3,593, she said, "and it is clearly larger now". She spoke of the "corroding, terrifying factors underlining what is happening", particularly where heroin was concerned, and its associated social consequences.
But, just as she was aware of this she had "a very direct sense" that communities had to tackle this problem "from the bottom up". She commended Dublin Corporation's approach, of bringing all interested groups together, as "the right one".
"In order to have a broad based and co ordinated approach people have to know each other," she said. Part of what the conference had to do was "believe in people, too, and believe in the possibility of addressing this problem in all its complexities", she said.
The Minister of State for Housing and Urban Renewal, Ms Liz McManus, announced a grant of £1.25 million to Dublin Corporation for a programme of works in communities which have been identified as priority areas. In each instance, she said, the grants would be matched by similar amounts from local authorities.
The Minister outlined the work being undertaken by the Ministerial Task Force, which had concluded that "Dublin's opiates problem is the main national drugs problem", with 10 of the 11 priority areas identified in Dublin. The only one outside the capital was in north Cork city.
She said the Eastern Health Board was now spending £9 million annually on treatment for heroin addicts, with 2,700 people receiving methadone treatment in Dublin during last year.
The link between large scale drug addiction and social and economic disadvantage and deprivation "is clearly established", she said, so tackling the problem required "an integrated, multi dimensional response" which addressed "supply and demand, and the economic and social factors which undoubtedly aggravate the problem".
She spoke of the desirability of a partnership approach towards the problem, which she described as "the most serious issue confronting our society as the 20th century draws to a close".
