I was reminded, during the last discussion, of the wonders of the free travel initiative in the late 1960s, which continues to have such a revolutionary impact on the quality of lives of many senior citizens in the country. That is the kind of innovation we require for senior citizens.

An interesting piece of research was published this morning, entitled Building Community Resilience, by Dr. Johnny Connolly from the centre for crime, justice and victim studies at the University of Limerick, with research support from Ms Jane Mulcahy in University College Cork, UCC. The research identified a terrible trend whereby ganglords of drug gangs are using children for the distribution and selling of drugs. It is a chronic situation that young children and teenagers are being attracted into this kind of atmosphere by unscrupulous people. We must mobilise the full capacity of the State to stop this in the interests of children.

We are discussing the Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Bill, tabled by Deputy Curran, this week, which would make it an offence to buy drugs from a minor and make it an offence to use a minor or cause a minor to sell or distribute drugs. It is a short, tight item of legislation that will clearly signal to those who are unscrupulously using and abusing children in this manner that the State will provide a robust response to those actions. I ask the Taoiseach to signal that the Government will support the passage of this legislation this evening. That would show the Oireachtas responding in a telling manner to this appalling scourge.

Can I contribute on the same topic?

Each leader has a right to put a question and receive a reply. When it is the turn of Independents 4 Change, Deputy Broughan will have a right to raise the matter, even if it is a repetition of a previous question. I would be breaking with precedent to allow Deputy Broughan to come in now, even though it would suit me fine if a number of Deputies asked the same question.

I thank the Deputy. I am concerned and worried that so many children and teenagers are getting involved in drug gangs. Our response must be one that is tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. That means more resources for the Garda and tackling poverty and deprivation. We are doing both of those things, and will continue to do so.

We discussed Deputy Curran's Bill at Cabinet on Tuesday and the Government will support it. We think there are some issues with it and we do not want to inadvertently criminalise children, which I acknowledge is not the intent of the Bill. The intent of the Bill is to strengthen the law and make it absolutely clear that children should not be used to sell drugs. We support the thrust of the Bill and the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, will work with Deputy Curran to refine it on Committee Stage.

I also wish to raise the Building Community Resilience report by Dr. Johnny Connolly. It stated in the report that just over 1% of people in the community concerned were involved in this criminal activity and that is an important lesson because this report reflects many other communities around the country that are in a similar position and that are often termed "gangland". It is not; only a tiny proportion of people are involved in this and a targeted response is needed.

In each year between 2008 and 2014, there was a cut in the funding to the drugs task force. Since 2014, there has been a freeze in the money for the drugs task force. While we cannot freeze rent, it seems that we can freeze the money we give to the drugs task force. That is a lesson to which we need to respond. The Building Community Residence report states that much of this is down to putting the targeted response in the right place.

I invite the Taoiseach to make a commitment from Government that the funding will be restored to the drugs task force and we will ensure that these communities get the kind of funding they require and that we see the type of community policing response that is required in these communities to give confidence to ordinary people who are afraid to ring the Garda when they see these kinds of activities happening.

The Deputy makes a valid point that the report shows that only about 1% of people in these communities are involved in gangland crime. That is why we, I include myself, should not use the term "gangland" because 1% of a community is a very small minority and the term potentially demonises and casts aspersions on entire communities of which 99% of the people are hard-working and law-abiding. We should all avoid using that term and I ask the media to also avoid using it.

The Deputy is correct to say that the budgets for the drugs task forces were reduced until 2014 and have been held at that level since. This is something on which the Minister of State with responsibility for communities and the national drugs strategy, Deputy Catherine Byrne, is working at the moment. She has received some reports on reviews done into drugs task forces indicating that in some cases, there are problems with governance and in some cases, money has been spent on projects that are not about tackling drugs or alcohol addiction. We have concerns about that and need to ensure that we sort out those issues before we increase budgets again. The Deputy should look at those reports.