Addiction Treatment Services
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-19
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Mary Fitzpatrick (FF), Industrial and Commercial Panel

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I am seeking an update on two matters relating to the Dublin drug treatment court. The Minister of State will be aware that a review of the Dublin drug treatment court pilot has recently been completed. I understand that the report and evaluation in this regard were sent to the Minister. When will the evaluation be published and made available to the public? In the aftermath of publication, what are the Department's plans to make the Dublin drug treatment court permanent and to expand the model nationwide? I anticipate that it will be expanded regionally in the first instance.
For those who are not aware of what the Dublin drug treatment court is, it is a court-supervised treatment programme for people whose offending is driven by drug addiction. It is a way of leading us from a judicial response to drug addiction to a more health-led response. It has the potential to break the cycle of addiction and crime. Instead of being sent to prison, offenders are placed on a structured and closely monitored recovery programme. This has been operating as a pilot programme since 2001. It works for participants who are over 17 years of age and who have committed an offence. Let us say a person shoplifts. That is a non-violent offence. They are shoplifting to feed their addiction. Participants must admit to that offence and commit to participating in the drug treatment court.
Under the court, people comply with very strict conditions around regular court appearances, drug testing, treatment and counselling and education and training. The court operates on Green Street. It is non-adversarial because the offenders are participating on a voluntary basis. As such, they have no need for legal representation. This system involves the Probation Service, An Garda Síochána, education services, welfare services and the court itself. The individual progresses, in a managed and supported way, away from addiction, crime and offending and towards addressing their addiction, achieving recovery, participating in education and training, rebuilding relationships and rebuilding their lives.
This really matters because the alternative to the drug treatment court is incarceration. Seven out of ten people in our prisons today have an addiction and six out of ten reoffend very shortly after being released. Sadly, many of those with addictions very quickly relapse or overdose when released from prison, doing themselves even further harm. Prison is not working for them. It is just compounding this cycle of addiction, offending and incarceration. This goes on and the cycle does not end. This really matters for those individuals, but it also matters for society.
I live close to Mountjoy Prison and the Dóchas Centre. I know there is a lot of opportunistic crime. Oftentimes, this would be somebody with an addiction being released from prison and on their way out opportunistically checking cars to see if they can get a bit of change or a bit of money to help themselves to their next fix. The drug treatment court actually makes communities safer because these individuals are admitting their offence. They are committing to a programme of treatment and recovery. They are participating in education and training. They are being supervised, helped and supported. This means that where they are back living in our communities they are being helped to do that in a meaningful way where they can participate in a healthy way for themselves but also for our communities and society.
In his response to my Commencement matter I hope the Minister of State might be able to share with the House when the evaluation will be published and what are the plans to make it a mainstream court and expand it regionally.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:57+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-19