Addiction Treatment Services
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-27
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Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (FF), Carlow-Kilkenny

I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise is a model 3 hospital, providing acute care services, with 71 beds.
As we know, it serves the populations of Laois, Kildare, Carlow and north Tipperary. As the Senator said, the hospital does not provide supervised detoxification beds and at present, there are no proposals for this. I will speak to officials to look at this and keep it under consideration. As the Senator noted, I received a draft of the national drugs strategy last week and I welcome this. I also have instructed the Department officials to put the draft of the strategy out to public consultation and I will have the details of this soon. It is important that it happens because it will be very important in the future.
The demand for drug services is reported annually through the national drugs treatment reporting system. In 2024 more than 22,000 cases of problem drug and alcohol use were treated. Of these, 20% were treated in residential settings, which also are known as a tier 4 service. This is the difference and it includes treatment in specialised inpatient detoxification services. Residential treatment services are provided by specialist and dedicated inpatient residential units or wards, which provide inpatient detoxification or assisted withdrawal and stabilisation. Some of the service users with complex needs, such as dual diagnosis, which the Senator spoke about, or pregnancy, liver or HIV-related problems, may need inpatient treatment in general psychiatric wards or acute hospitals.
The HSE centre provides annual funding of €8.4 million for treatment episodes, depending on regional needs and service capacity. This is why the new drugs strategy will be so important when we put it out to public consultation. It is ten years since we had the last national drugs strategy and it is very important now because drugs affect everyone. I can honestly say there is not a family or someone who knows a family in Ireland that is not affected by drugs. This is what we have to look at now. We have to look at the services, where they are and who can access them, as well as making sure the services are there for the people who need them. This is part of the new drugs strategy and it is so important. I am very mindful of this.
Approximately 174 residential treatment detoxification beds are available nationally. These are from a variety of service providers. Access to residential detoxification beds is based on need. Someone from the midlands region can access residential services in any suitable location. The provision of the detoxification programme occurs after a comprehensive medical assessment. In some cases it may be appropriate to provide detoxification in a community setting through a doctor or a HSE addiction clinic. People who wish to access a detoxification service should make contact with their GP or local drugs service to make a referral.
Budget 2026 provided €11 million in additional funding for drug and inclusive health services. This includes residential services and I recently opened the new HSE Cuan Dara residential treatment facility, which will benefit from this new funding. This facility will provide an additional 18 residential treatment beds for medically complex cases, bringing the capacity to 30 beds. These additional beds will be available for people seeking treatment for complex additional needs, including dual diagnosis, pregnancy or other medical conditions, on a national basis. This demonstrates that we are committed and I understand that we need to look at the services on a region-by-region basis. I thank the Senator for highlighting this very important issue today.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:33+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-27