Dr. Una Burns:

In response to Deputy Ó Broin's questions on the number of people who have died in homeless services this year, I will refer to some of our experiences on the ground. The double payment of social welfare, which thankfully has ceased, was a significant issue for people in addiction because they were using incredible amounts in the first week which led to an increase in the number of overdoses. For example, in McGarry House in Limerick during the first lockdown, the number of times we administered naloxone more than doubled compared with 2019 because of the number of overdoses due to the double payment. That was a significant issue and probably increased the number of deaths this year.

It is difficult to see what we can do about a second problem we have. We are encouraging clients to socially distance and stay in their rooms on their own to prevent the spread of Covid but that leads to people using on their own and overdosing on their own.

It is counter-intuitive sometimes to try to separate people. They might be safer in their own community. Notwithstanding all the addiction, mental health and dual diagnosis issues that homeless people face every year, this year there were things that were felt more acutely because of Covid. When we come out of it, hopefully we will see a decline in such issues. Those are some observations from the ground.