Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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2454. To ask the Minister for Health the publication date of the past five National Drug Related Deaths Index in tabular form. [37875/21]

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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The National Drug Related Deaths Index (NDRDI) is a system for recording drug-related deaths and deaths among drug users to enable the State and its agencies to respond in a timely manner, and with accurate data. Deaths due drug and alcohol overdose are a tragic loss of life and cause a huge amount of grief and devastation for families.

The NDRDI is funded by the Department of Health and the Department of Justice and Equality and managed by the Health Research Board (HRB). The HRB collect data from closed coronial files relating to all deaths where a history of drug use and/or alcohol dependency was recorded, and/or where drugs including alcohol were implicated in the death.

The data collected includes administrative details, demographic details, socio-economic information, problem drug use, risk behaviours, drug treatment history, details about the death itself, and medical diagnosis.

The five most recent NDRDI bulletins and their publication dates are set out below.

Unfortunately, the collection of data on drug and alcohol-related deaths for the NDRDI has been delayed due to the Covid-19 public health restrictions.