Dr. Eamon Keenan:

I am glad the Chairman highlighted the issue of drug-related deaths. The most recent figures we have are from 2017. The reason for that is that identifying drug-related deaths is a process that requires staff to go in, look at coronial records and discuss things with the coroner. These are very sensitive records and due to Covid people have not been able to access those records. We hope to have a joint figure for 2018 and 2019 reported this year.

Returning to the matter of suicides, that is an important area. The increase in suicidal behaviour among people who use drugs is recognised in the Irish suicide prevention strategy Connecting for Life. We sit on that group and we are engaged with that. One measure we hope will improve matters in this regard is the establishment of the dual diagnosis clinical programme in mental health. It is recognised that overlap between substance use issues and mental health issues may be a factor in suicidal behaviour. The establishment of that clinical programme, which is just about to sign off on its model of care and will be implemented in two areas in 2022 with further areas after that, will be of real benefit for the service user and particularly those people who experience mental health problems associated with their substance use.