Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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396. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to introduce suboxone for the treatment of narcotic addiction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43952/17]

Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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In January 2016, the Director General of the HSE submitted the final report of the Opioid Substitution Implementation Group to the Minister of State with responsibility for the national drugs strategy. The report recommends the phased increased access to buprenorphine/naloxone (Suboxone) for groups of patients in specific circumstances, subject to resourcing and the required legislation being enacted.

Approximately 80 people currently receive suboxone for opioid dependence and are registered on the Central Treatment List (CTL) on an informal basis. For the feasibility study, the CTL was required to set up, manage and maintain a separate national database for all clients in receipt of buprenorphine/naloxone treatment. However unlike the CTL for Methadone this does not yet have a statutory footing.

Drafting of new regulations to provide the same restrictions to the prescribing and dispensing of buprenorphine/naloxone and buprenorphine only for opioid dependence as apply to methadone is at an advanced stage. As buprenorphine has more “every day” uses than methadone (it is widely used as a painkiller both in the community and hospital settings) and is available in a wide variety of forms, the Regulations will need to ensure that the additional controls which apply to methadone do not interfere with the current use of buprenorphine for other clinical indications and avoid any unintended consequences.

It is expected that the regulations will be finalised in the coming weeks. The regulations will then be subject to the 3-month EU notification under the Technical Standards and Regulations Directive 2015/1535/EU.

An additional €750,000 has been allocated to the HSE to facilitate the phased increase in the use of Suboxone this year.