First Meeting of the Misuse
of Drugs Sectoral Group

Communiqué

At a meeting of Representatives from across the British-Irish Council hosted by Minister Eoin Ryan TD, Minister of State for Local Development with special responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy, in Dublin today, delegations reiterated their commitment to combating the misuse of drugs and look forward to further co-operation in this important forum as a way of enhancing ongoing work in this area.

The British-Irish Council was established under the Strand Three Provisions of the Good Friday Agreement as a forum for its Members to exchange information, discuss, consult and use best endeavours to reach agreement on co-operation on matters of mutual interest within the competence of relevant member administrations. Ireland is the lead administration within the Council on the issue of misuse of drugs.

The Irish Government was represented by Minister of State Eoin Ryan T.D., who chaired and hosted the meeting. The UK Government was represented by Mr Bob Ainsworth M.P., Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Home Office. The Northern Ireland Executive was represented by Ms Bairbre De Brun M.L.A., Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety and Mr Dermot Nesbitt M.L.A., Minister of the Environment. Dr Richard Simpson M.S.P., Deputy Minister for Justice, represented the Scottish Executive and Ms Jane Hutt A.M, Minister for Health and Social Services, represented the Welsh Assembly Government.

The Isle of Man was represented by Hon. Mr Richard Corkill, Chief Minister of the Isle of Man Government and Chair of the Drugs Strategy Committee. Deputy Roger Berry OBE, President of the Board of Administration, States of Guernsey represented Guernsey. Jersey was represented by Deputy Roy Le Herisser, Deputy President of the Health and Social Services Committee, States of Jersey.

A full list of delegation members is attached.
The misuse of drugs was identified at the inaugural British-Irish Council Summit of 17 December 1999 as one of the issues for discussion. Today’s meeting was the first time Ministers with responsibility in this area have met since the Dublin Summit in November 2001 focussing primarily on the issue of the misuse of drugs, which was hosted by the Taoiseach in Dublin Castle on 30 November 2001.


Following agreement at the Summit to carry forward future co-operation focussing on the two key areas of Demand Reduction and Supply Reduction, Ministers today discussed a number of important issues in the drugs area, including the targeting of the proceeds of drugs trafficking, the importance of involving the community in developing and implementing drugs strategies, the need to divert young people at risk of drug misuse into healthier pursuits and the importance of providing recovering drug misusers with opportunities for training and employment.

Minister Eoin Ryan T.D., welcomed delegations to the meeting and Ministers outlined key challenges in their individual drugs strategies. Deputy Roger Berry OBE of Guernsey gave a presentation on "Targeting the Proceeds of the Drugs Trade/Assets Confiscation” based on the paper prepared by Guernsey outlining a proposal for a conference on the issue to be held in Guernsey on 16/17 May 2002.

Mr Bob Ainsworth M.P presented a paper on ‘Positive Futures’ initiative, which aims to provide sporting programmes for young people at risk, including mentoring schemes and educational programmes. Experts from the BIC will meet in London in the near future to share their knowledge and expertise in the area.

Minister Bairbre de Brun M.L.A. presented a paper on behalf of Northern Ireland on the importance of involving the community in developing and implementing drugs strategies. Northern Ireland will host a conference in November with a view to exploring models of good practice in the area in the near future.

Ministers also considered the paper prepared by Scotland and Ireland presented by Dr Richard Simpson, Deputy Minister for Justice on educational, training and employment opportunities for recovering drug users. Minister Ryan outlined similar initiatives in place in Ireland. Members agreed that a seminar for managers and policy makers will be held later in the year in order to advance the exchange of information in this area.

Ms. Jane Hutt, A.M. also reported on the recent conference on Harm Reduction held in Wales and the Hon. Richard Corkill, outlined the Isle of Man’s proposal for a conference on ‘Drug and Alcohol strategies- Progress in action’.

It was agreed that Ministers would meet again to review progress in early 2003.


British-Irish Council (Misuse of Drugs Sectoral Group)
22 March 2002

List of Delegates