Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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78. To ask the Minister for Health if work is being carried out in her Department to plan for a medically supervised injection centre in Cork; if any such work will be carried out in advance of the findings of the 18-month pilot phase of the supervised injection facility in Dublin city centre; if any potential sites in Cork have been identified; if consideration is only being given to mobile supervised injection facilities outside of Dublin; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [65000/25]

Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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My question is about safe injection facilities. Last month I asked a parliamentary question about establishing a safe injection facility in Cork city. I was told it would not be considered until the 18-month pilot in Dublin was concluded. For the one in Dublin, it took nine years between Cabinet approval and setting it up. We cannot have the same level of delay in Cork city. We need a health-led approach to drugs and we need to start considering and planning a safe injection facility for Cork city. Failure to act here will cost lives.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for a very important question. As he knows, the independent evaluation of the national drugs strategy, Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery, assisted with the expansion of harm reduction in a significant way. Our new drugs strategy will be launched next year, hopefully. That is very important to us. We have found that the harm reduction initiatives were a central component of the health-led approach to drug use, with a focus on reducing the adverse health and social impacts associated with drug use.

One significant harm reduction initiative is the establishment of supervised injection facilities. Last year, as the Deputy said, the Department of Health granted a licence to operate Ireland's first supervised injection facility at Merchants Quay Ireland. I do not know whether he has been to see it but I have been out there a few times. It is an absolutely fabulous facility. It opened on 22 December 2024. I am happy to report that to date the facility has assisted over 1,000 individual clients who have made over 7,500 visits. Crucially, there were over 120 successful interventions to prevent a fatal overdose. I have provided additional funding to extend the opening hours to facilitate this, which was important. The HSE is overseeing the evaluation of the 18-month pilot phase of this facility. The evaluation will inform decisions as to whether we continue this facility or look at opening new ones in other areas. I understand the HSE has recently completed its six-month interim evaluation and I will look at that now. I am committed to a health-led response to drug use, including the provision of harm reduction initiatives based on population need. The successor to the national drugs strategy will consider the next steps in delivering a health-led response, including the demand for additional supervised facilities.

Importantly, the programme for Government 2025 commits to exploring the establishment of mobile medically supervised injection facilities in areas of need, so we are looking at areas of need. The medical supervised injection facility operated by licence on the 18-month pilot basis, that is, Merchants Quay's own licence, will be thoroughly evaluated to assess this impact. The information will assist in assessing the potential need for the benefit of mobile injection facilities. The existing legislation does not allow for mobile supervised injection facilities as only facilities on fixed premises are specific on this.

I will come back to the Deputy with the rest of the answer.

Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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With respect, I asked about the facility in Cork. The facility in Dublin has been a success. That is why we want to see one rolled out for Cork. We know from research published by UCC that there are 859 problem drug users in Cork city. Thirty-five people die every single year in my city from problem drug use. This is a crisis, it is urgent and it needs interventions. We cannot wait for pilots and reviews. We need to act now on this. A mobile unit will not be effective. We know from the centre in Dublin that people go in, they spend 15 minutes injecting and then they have aftercare for 30 minutes. You cannot have that in a van moving around a city. What is crucial is the intervention with the person, that 30 minutes afterwards, that time to build a relationship and to provide them with other care or other interventions. That will not be possible with a mobile unit. Eddie Mullins from Merchants Quay Ireland has said that that would be ineffective. We need to listen to the experts. Cork needs a dedicated centre, not a mobile unit.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Everything is being assessed. The evaluation of what is happening with drugs around the country is being looked at. As I said at the meeting the other day, we have 610 services around the country. We are very mindful of that and that all have equal access to services. We are assessing every opportunity here, working within the Department, the HSE and, as the Deputy knows, our drugs task forces, which do huge work within our communities.

A few months ago, I announced detail of a further €1.89 million for community-based drug services in 2025. That happened with the community service enhancement fund. This funding will improve access to services in underserved communities, promote evidence-based innovation in service design and delivery and enhance services for people who use stimulant drugs.

Importantly, for budget 2026, I secured an additional €11 million in reoccurring funding for drugs and inclusion health services. These services are all being looked at through the different areas.

There is a lot of work being done. I assure the Deputy that we are looking at everything and making sure we have funding around the country.

Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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Yesterday at the committee, we talked about the integrated health hub for homeless people in Cork city. This hub needs to be established and we need the capital investment for it. This is the prime location to have a safe injection facility in Cork city. What we need here now is not to miss an opportunity. We are establishing a new centre there. We can co-locate these services but the Department needs to do the planning and design now and needs to get this right. We need to think beyond just injection. Right across Europe, we have drug consumption rooms. Crack cocaine is on the increase. I met Cork Simon earlier this week and they said that in Cork city lots of people are smoking crack cocaine. What we need, therefore, is an expansion of the legislation to also include safe drug consumption and for the facility in Cork to be prepared for that, with ventilation and all the requirements around that. I do not think the required planning is going ahead. I want to see change to the legislation, I want to see a commitment to Cork, I want to see investment, I want that homeless hub opened and I want a sense of urgency around here. This is costing people's lives in my city every single year. It is not good enough.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Absolutely. All the Deputy's concerns are very important. We are talking about lives, and it is very important that we remember that one life lost is one too many. We have to do what we can to save lives and make sure we work with what we have and the services we have. We have to make sure that we deliver the services we can deliver and that people who want to access them can do so. We also have to work with their families. We have to make sure we have services there to help families. It is a matter of all of us working together. Like the Deputy, I understand that we need to put those services in place.

The Deputy spoke about the Cork homeless hub. That is being worked on. As I said at the meeting, there is a commitment from my Department for funding for the homeless hub. I have requested a meeting with the HSE. I hope to meet with it as soon as possible to try to get more information on this. As the Deputy said, a homeless hub would be another really important step forward for Cork.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. As he said, it is a matter of services, how we deliver them and how we make sure we save lives. Working together, we need to achieve that. I thank him for his question.