Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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446. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to open an injecting room at a location (details supplied) in Dublin 8; the timeframe to open the facility; the number of persons it is expected to serve; the opening times during the day; if this will be a pilot scheme or a permanent facility; the way in which it will be funded; and the length of time it is expected to be operational. [39474/17]

Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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On 25 August 2017, the HSE published an invitation on the Government's eTenders website for suitably qualified and experienced service providers to submit tenders to provide a medically supervised injecting centre in Dublin City Centre area on a pilot basis. Tenders must be submitted to the HSE by 25^thSeptember 2017. The HSE anticipates that the contract will be awarded by 1st November 2017. The initial contract will be for an 18-month pilot phase with an evaluation at 6 months and again at 18 months.

The provider and the proposed location will be known once the evaluation of the tender submissions is completed by end of October 2017.

As the tender process is still underway, it is not appropriate for me to comment on individual organisations who may be included in the tender process or on the actual opening hours of the Supervised Injecting Facility.

It is estimated that it will cost in the region of €1.5m a year to run the SIF. The HSE has been allocated €750,000 in 2017 to set up the facility before the end of the current year.