Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 204: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of incidents where methadone featured in a drug related death since 1998 to date in 2008; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25298/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The information sought by the Deputy is not available in full. However, between January 1998 and December 2001 the Dublin City and County Coroner's Office investigated 332 opiate-related deaths in Dublin. Two-thirds of the opiate users who died tested positive for three or more drugs while just over eleven per cent tested positive for one drug. Methadone was detected in 189 of the 332 deaths: a more detailed analysis for 1999 found that of the 84 opiate related deaths in that year, 45 were methadone-related and of the methadone-related deaths, 15 were receiving methadone according to prescribed guidelines.

Information from 2003-2005 will be available in September of this year from the National Drug Related Deaths Index which was established by the Health Research Board in 2005 at the request of the Department of Health and Children and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.