Yesterday, I raised the serious incident arising from an alleged paedophile ring in Dublin. Today, I wish to refer again to an issue affecting our young people. We have known for a long time that young teenagers are regularly getting hammered on drink. We know now from a report being published today that they are also getting high on drugs. This report is aptly called, The State of the Nation's Children — I emphasise the word "children". The report shows that four out of ten children under 15 years of age have sampled drugs. That makes us number three in the world for trying out drugs. When it comes to girls, tragically, we are number one in the world for trying out drugs. That is an 8% increase in eight years.

When I raised the issue of drugs a fortnight ago, the Taoiseach stated: "I do not believe we should say... there are serious drug problems in every village, community and locality because that is not the case". Fr. McVerry rightly pointed out drugs are apparently available within five minutes of any location. We know the duties of parental responsibility include that parents know where their children are at any time and who they are with, but today's report is a damning indictment of the state of society in so far as young teenage boys and girls are concerned.

They sample drugs.

I am not sure what action the absent and sometimes hysterical Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has taken about respectable Ireland, which, according to reports, regularly snorts vast quantities of white powder, namely, cocaine.

The Deputy's time is concluded.

In the Taoiseach's view, what state do we have to reach before he realises the reality of what is happening and for him to agree there is a crisis that needs to be addressed? Is it five out of ten, six out of ten or seven out of ten? What is the Government's strategy in terms of constantly reminding parents of their responsibilities and children of the dangers in addition to the actions of the State in being able to address this issue?

Enormous and substantive progress has been made in the past 15 or 20 years in the implementation of all aspects of the drugs strategy to deal with issues relating to drugs.

It was not very successful.

In the past seven or eight years, we devised a national drugs strategy. We invested the necessary resources, people and facilities in the strategy. Approximately 500 projects have been funded under the young people's facilities and services scheme, which has been in place for ten years. Hundreds of youth workers and outreach workers are dealing with this issue. Regional drugs teams are in place. There is a good nucleus of people involved in the prevention of drug abuse and in helping people get away from drugs and staying off them. We invested money in sport, recreation and addiction counselling throughout the country. We have a good basis that has been built up over a number of years with a significant number of people involved.

The situation is getting worse.

The figures quoted in the media and referred to by Deputy Kenny in regard to teenage drinking and drug use relate to a survey which was carried out in 2002 and published in 2003. The report is four years old. It was published by the European school survey project on alcohol and drugs. The statistics, together with other research from 22 different data sources, are contained in a report which has been compiled by the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, and the Office of the Minister for Children. The report will be published today. It does not contain any new information. It is a compilation of existing data on areas of children's lives that have been identified as important indicators of their well-being.

The report contained some very good news about children. For example, Irish children rank second among WHO countries in terms of being physically active and involved in recreation and sport. This is classified worldwide as being at least four hours per week. I agree with Deputy Kenny about the fact that 40% of teenagers have experimented with drugs — let us get the word right, it is "experimented". If a child of 14 tries one fag or one drink, it does not make him or her a compulsive smoker or an alcoholic.

It leads to it.

Alcohol is legal. There is a slight difference.

One samples.

The Taoiseach should be allowed to speak without interruption.

A total of 40% of teenagers sampled drugs.

It is the first step.

They are not on drugs. They are not junkies or winos. Deputies opposite should not try to twist figures. I do not believe all our young people are either drinking or on drugs or that every community is riddled with drugs. I do not believe that; I do not see it.

The Taoiseach had better come alive then.

The Taoiseach should get out of his car.

The Taoiseach should be allowed to speak without interruption.

I do not see it and I do not accept it.

The Taoiseach should get his head out of the sand.

It is not the evidence of educationalists, people involved in sports or the scouting organisations. I accept people are addicted to drugs but let us not try to use figures for those who might have sampled drugs once in their life and accuse them of being addicted.

Under the national drugs strategy, there are a number of dedicated school programmes aimed at tackling drug abuse. We should continue the social, personal and health education programme which is a curriculum subject at both primary and post-primary schools at junior level. They are dedicated modules that focus on the prevention of alcohol and drug abuse. I am in favour of everything that tries to give advice to people, makes them aware of issues and provides training. I can rattle off a significant amount of resources that are being spent every day by people working in these areas throughout the country. We have a good system trying to deal with the issue and good work has been done by the Garda Síochána. I congratulate the Garda Síochána on its work last night breaking an international ring in Kildare. It tries to stop those who make a living out of this, ruining the lives of our children. While we have problems like every Western society, a great amount of work is being done successfully and we should encourage it.

The Taoiseach should not try to put words in my mouth. I did not say that every young person was experimenting with drugs. I said the report indicated that young people under the age of 15 were trying out drugs. I agree that definitions are important. Cannabis is a gateway drug and leads to other addictions. Some of the facts that have emerged in recent years include a teenager, high on Ecstasy, gouging out his own eye at a party. Parents have taken out barring orders against their drug-addicted children to avoid eviction. A 17 year old Dublin girl, a drug addict, was charged with loitering in a public place with intent to solicit for prostitution. A 16 year old homeless boy begged that he be brought to St. Patrick's Institution for Christmas. Heroin addiction ruined the life of a 16 year old. It caused him to attack his father and wreck his home. This reality was brought to my attention last night at a meeting in Dublin, where many children from the inner city leave the primary system with no hope and find themselves exposed to drugs on a regular basis.

The Taoiseach states he is doing all the work. In 1996 there was a total of 52 gardaí in the Garda National Drugs Unit, of which 47 were operational gardaí. In 2006 there was one more, 53, to deal with what the Taoiseach talks about. The Taoiseach is in favour of everything that helps, as am I. Since I made a proposal for voluntary random drug-testing in schools two weeks ago, it has received strong support from around the country. Pilot schemes could be undertaken in one or two counties, asking the schools to agree to a random drug-testing scheme on a voluntary basis to help reduce peer pressure and the incidence of experimenting with drugs. This proposal would be helpful although the Minister for Education and Science does not agree.

I congratulate the Garda Síochána but the problem is out of control in some areas. The price of cocaine is dropping due to a flood of it on the market. It is addictive. Fine Gael will support any action taken. Does the Taoiseach support voluntary random drug-testing and will he give it his imprimatur?

The Government set up the Office of the Minister for Children under the Minister of State with responsibility for children, Deputy Brian Lenihan, to deal with all issues affecting children in an increasingly complicated world. The issues of yesterday reinforce that point. I accept Deputy Kenny's point and, if the boards of management and the schools do not object, I have no difficulties with voluntary random drug-testing. I said that two weeks ago and have asked people to examine it since then.

We should encourage what is positive. When one sees a report that has so many positive aspects about children, one can see people going through it to find something negative and the headline focuses on the 40% of teenagers who have experimented with drugs. Some children said they had sampled drugs but this leads to the perception that our society is drug-ridden and booze-ridden and that is unfair to hundreds of thousands of young people who listen to good parents, participate in active life and try to do their best. The story from the report should have been that our children are the second most active in the world, according to the WHO, but that aspect is not worth a candle according to some people. That is wrong.

Resources for addiction counselling, detoxification programmes and methadone treatment centres are important as are the resources provided for young people's facilities funds across a range of areas and in regional drug teams. Ultimately, helping involves having good youth workers and community workers and providing resources for scout halls and dens and for girl guides to keep people away from drugs. The absence of activity and of having something to do, leads people to drift to street corners, to the ghettoblasters and into drugs. Activity is the solution to the problem. Sufficient research exists to prove that. We must promote resources for sport and recreation in the widest sense. It does not matter if it is tiddlywinks or sophisticated field sport — each one is helpful. This is being successfully done and we will continue to do it. I support it and have provided considerable resources to it.