Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Irish National Drug-Related Deaths Index (NDRDI) is an epidemiological database which records cases of death by drug and alcohol poisoning, and deaths among drug users and those who are alcohol dependent. The NDRDI is maintained by the Health Research Board (HRB). The HRB has provided the following information from NDRDI in response to the question raised by Deputy Adams based on the latest available information.

Please Note:

1. Poisonings are considered as deaths directly due to the toxic effect of the presence in the body of a drug or drugs and/or other substance(s). Other terms used to describe such deaths include overdose, directly drug-related death and acute drug death. Deaths arising from adverse reactions to prescribed medication are not included in the NDRDI.

2. Non-poisonings are considered as deaths in individuals with a history of drug dependency or non-dependent abuse of drugs (ascertained from toxicology results and from CTL, medical or coronial records), irrespective of whether the use of the drug was directly implicated in the death. For presentation purposes it is necessary to group these deaths into broad categories.

Table 1:Number of poisoning deaths due to alcohol and/or other drugs, by county of residence, NDRDI 2007 to 2016 (n=3759)

Table 2:Number of non-poisoning deaths among people who use drugs (excluding alcohol), by county of residence, NDRDI 2007 to 2016 (n=3015)

Table 3:Number of non-poisoning deaths among people known to be alcohol dependent, by year, by county of residence, NDRDI 2007 to 2016 (n=8256)