Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

The issue I raise is a proposal by the Health Service Executive to establish a methadone clinic in Coolmine industrial estate in Blanchardstown, Dublin 15. No one is opposed to the provision of a methadone clinic or the idea that users of methadone should be facilitated in their own communities. Methadone treatment services are currently provided by Connolly Hospital, which is close to the Coolmine industrial estate. This arrangement will cease in the near future and the clinic will move to the industrial estate where it will be housed next door to a workshop staffed by people with an intellectual disability and operated under the auspices of the Daughters of Charity. Needless to say, the parents of those employed in the workshop are concerned about the impact this new arrangement will have on their adult children given that they have intellectual disabilities.

It appears the HSE is seeking to pit the vulnerable against the vulnerable in choosing the location in question for a methadone clinic. The executive did not engage in any consultation with public representatives, which is unusual, or other parties involved in the industrial estate, including the Daughters of Charity and Tofa, which operates the workshop in question. Planning permission to dispense methadone from the facility has not been granted, although it is required, and the HSE has not yet given any indication that it will be sought.

Potential alternative locations for a methadone facility are available in the vicinity of the Blanchardstown centre and Connolly Hospital. The centre should not be located next door to a workshop for people with intellectual disabilities. I ask the Minister to convey the united wish of the community and all parties who have been represented at the public meetings on this issue that there be a proper consultation with their potential neighbours, and that alternative locations be considered within the Dublin 15 area.

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