Fine Gael has called for all assets seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau to be ring-fenced for drug treatment and other related services in an effort to combat Ireland's growing drug problem.
In a Bill introduced last night by Mr Fergus O'Dowd, the party's community affairs spokesman, Fine Gael proposed that all funding seized by the bureau - €44 million so far - should not be "swallowed by the central exchequer".
Currently seized proceeds can only be released after seven years, and Mr O'Dowd said this should be reduced to three, in order to speed up the availability of "desperately needed" resources and to fund life-saving drug treatment projects.
However, the Government has rejected the legislation.
Speaking for the Minister for Justice, the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, said there was a Bill at a more advanced stage currently before the Dáil, the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Bill, 1999.
Mr O'Dowd said there were an estimated 14,450 heroin-users in Ireland, of whom 12,456 lived in the Dublin area.
"On average 80 to 100 drug-related deaths occur in this country each year.
"Beyond stabilising addicts there must be increased availability of counselling, training, education and other related services to help addicts to move beyond their addiction," he said.
CAB proceeds would go a long way to financing these projects, he added.
"It is only fitting that communities which suffer most at the hands of criminals and drug barons should benefit from confiscated proceeds,"Mr O'Dowd said.
His legislation to amend the Proceeds of Crime Bill would ring-fence the funding exclusively for drug-related services.
The Government claimed it did not ring-fence money, but Mr Cullen's plastic-bag levy contradicted this claim, he said.
He added that in the Seanad the Minister of State with responsibility for the drugs strategy, Mr Noel Ahern, had said he supported the ring-fencing. The Fine Gael TD for Louth accused the Government of failing to prioritise Ireland's growing dug problem.
"Most of the 100 promises it made in the National Drugs Strategy 2001-2008 are behind schedule.
"It has slashed €7 million from the strategy programme this year, and the 10 regional drugs task forces it set up have only been allocated minimal administrative budgets in 2003, but none has been given programme budgets," Mr O'Dowd said.
Mr Smith said the Government, in rejecting the Fine Gael legislation, was not implying criticism of the motivation behind the Bill.
"This Government is determined to fight the evils of drug misuse and to reduce the harm which these activities inflict on individuals, families and entire communities," he said.
The Government aimed to do this by "addressing the areas of supply reduction, prevention, treatment and research in the national drugs strategy".
The Government Bill reached the early second-stage debate in the Dáil in 2000, but no further progress was made "pending the outcome of a number of court challenges to the Proceeds of Crime Act" of 1996.
There would now be further amendments to the Bill.
Defending the Government's allocation to drug treatment, Mr Smith said it was not "starving" the strategy of funding, but had increased funding by 16 per cent on last year.
Labour's justice spokesman, Mr Joe Costello, said ring-fencing the CAB funds would help to "undo the damage caused by criminal activities".
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