Prison Service
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-01
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

We have not hired people known as addiction nurses since the mid-2010s. I do not want the Deputy to think - I know he does not think this - that because of that, there are no services. There was a change in how we deal with addressing the addiction needs of people in custody. To use a word that is sometimes overused, the Prison Service adopts a multidisciplinary approach to it. This includes nurses, general practitioners and psychologists, supported by in-reach mental health services and addiction counselling services delivered by Merchants Quay Ireland. Merchants Quay Ireland plays a huge role in the context of the role the addiction nurses used to play. It currently provides 19 addiction counsellors, with one vacancy in Cork Prison. In addition, Merchants Quay Ireland has recently introduced six project workers and two prison recovery educators.
To support rehabilitation, reduce reoffending and facilitate successful reintegration into society, people in custody have access to a broad range of clinical and rehabilitative interventions. These include opioid substitution treatment, counselling, harm reduction initiatives, peer-support programmes and psycho-educational services delivered through prison education units and the prison television channel. Merchants Quay Ireland also delivers the national treatment and rehabilitation programme, which is based in the medication unit at Mountjoy Prison. The Irish Prison Service also works closely with Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, which provide ongoing support across the prison estate.
As I said, the Prison Service has not employed addiction nurses per se since the mid-2010s. The historic approach of having a narrow and focused resource has been superseded by the prison primary care team and supporting agencies.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-01/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:06+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-01