Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Ruane. I am glad that the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, had the opportunity to speak directly with her. I will update Senators more broadly on the position but I know the Minister of State will do further work in that regard.

As Senator Ruane said, naloxone is a prescription-only drug at the moment and measures have been put in place to ensure that as many people as possible have access to naloxone administration courses.

The Department of Health and the HSE are acutely aware of the dangers of all drugs, especially synthetic opioids. They are working in collaboration with European partners to prepare responses to new opioids or other drugs that may emerge.

The emergence of synthetic opioids is monitored closely by the EU Drugs Agency. Ireland supports that mechanism through the early warning and emerging trends network, EWET, which has representatives from the Department of Health, the Department of Justice, An Garda Síochána, the Irish Prison Service, the Health Research Board, the HSE, several national laboratories, and civil society representatives.

Naloxone is used as an antidote to reverse the effects of opioid drugs like heroin, morphine and methadone if someone overdoses. As Senator Ruane has said, it is a lifesaver drug. More than 1,900 people have been trained in overdose awareness and naloxone administration by the HSE and partner services. Some 6,488 units of naloxone have been supplied by the HSE to services. It can be used in emergency situations without a prescription but the barrier is that the person administering the product must have been issued with a certificate stating that he or she has satisfactorily completed a course of training. As the Senator has pointed out, there are many situations where that happens but where access to the drug is more restricted.

We know that during the recent spike in overdose cases, in Dublin and Cork in particular, naloxone has saved lives. In many cases it was administered before emergency services arrived on the scene. The Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, is keen to ensure that it is more readily available. The question is what is the pathway for that and how will it be done. I understand from the Minister of State that work is under way by her officials to ensure that gardaí, for example, are trained to use naloxone and that they would carry it while on the beat. Separately, she is also keen that it is more readily available to people helping those in addiction, including support workers, peers, and family members. She is exploring ways in which to make it entirely prescription free and to see how that might work and what the practicalities of that are. I might allow Senator Ruane to respond if she has any questions.