Mr Tony Geoghegan wants the Gilligans' £5 million Jessbrook Equestrian Centre in Co Kildare to be turned into a rehabilitation facility for drug addicts.
It would be fitting for a centre built on the proceeds of drugs - and seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau - to be used to help people who have suffered from them, he said.
Mr Geoghegan is the director of the Merchant's Quay Project, which runs a crisis centre for active drug users in Dublin, offering needle exchanges, health promotion and referrals.
Like many drug workers in the capital, he said the multi-million-pound initiatives to combat drug supply and addiction in the wake of Veronica Guerin's death were bearing fruit.
"I think things have improved because there are more services, but there is a long way to go in terms of development," he said.
He highlighted ongoing deficits in services including waiting lists for treatment and a shortage of hospital detoxification beds. He also said a wider range of treatment should be on offer, in addition to the methadone "one size fits all approach".
"The emphasis has been on education and prevention and the drug-free and rehabilitation end of things and there is still a deficit in services for crisis and active drug users," he said.
Some 150 active drug users currently use the Merchant's Quay drop-in crisis centre daily. In 1997 - the year after Ms Guerin's death - the average daily attendance rate was 104.
Those working with drug users are not surprised that the estimated number of heroin addicts in Dublin has increased from 7,000 in the year Ms Guerin was killed to 13,000 today.
Mr Fergus McCabe from the Citywide Drugs Campaign points out that the increase in the estimated number of addicts in the capital could be linked to the fact that strengthened services mean more are coming forward.
"The impression is that it's growing, but that the rate of increase has slowed down, but we need accurate information. We need evaluation and systems and they are coming on stream." The government's National Drugs Strategy has started since the late 1990s to put into place an integrated, community-led model. By 2003, some £65 million will have been spent through 13 local groups in Dublin and one in Cork, with projects including training programmes for community groups and treatment and education initiatives.
A special £37 million fund has been set up to target "at risk" young people in disadvantaged areas through initiatives including sport and recreational facilities.
Other initiatives aimed at breaking the cycle of addiction include the recently established Drugs Court, offering offenders treatment instead of jail sentences, and a treatment plan for people in prisons.
In 1996, 830 people were receiving treatment for drug misuse in the Eastern Health Board's area, almost double the figure for 1994.
At the beginning of 1996 there were 15 doctors and 35 pharmacies providing treatment. By 1999, there were 128 GPs and 154 pharmacies taking part in the methadone treatment protocols. Currently there are about 5,000 drug abusers on methadone programmes, with a further 1,000 receiving other forms of treatment.
Mr Tony Mac Carthaigh from the Rialto Community Drugs Team said most people in that area who needed treatment were receiving it, with many also finding employment.
"One clinic in Fatima Mansions is held at 7.30a.m. on Fridays to facilitate people going to work and two weeks ago we celebrated the fact that 30 former illegal drug users are on Community Employment Schemes," he said.
A review of the National Drugs Strategy will be published shortly to set fresh priorities for the next three years, accompanied by a research and evaluation programme overseen by a National Advisory Committee.
The Independent Dublin TD, Mr Tony Gregory, is supportive of Government measures, but critical of some delays in dispensing funds for much-needed initiatives for "at risk" young people, such as a planned sports complex in Cabra, north Dublin.
"There are at least five major projects also awaiting funding, despite all the talk and the money. It's only when these type of diversionary facilities are up and running that they will have an impact," he said.