Written answers

Tuesday, 8 February 2022

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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692. To ask the Minister for Health the way that the €4 million additional funding, announced in budget 2021, was spent on drug and alcohol services. [6217/22]

Photo of Frank FeighanFrank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Budget 2021 allocated €4.1 million to enhance drug and alcohol services and address substance misuse.

This funding was allocated as follows:

€1m to develop targeted drug and alcohol initiatives through the network of drug and alcohol task forces, and to increase core funding for existing services;

€2m to increase residential treatment services for people with severe drug and alcohol dependency across the country, including a step-up stabilisation facility in CHOs Cork/Kerry, Mid-West and South East and a low threshold programme in Dublin North East Inner City;

€700,000 to expand community and family support services, including initiatives in Donegal/Leitrim/Sligo, Louth/Meath, Cork/Kerry, and Dublin North Inner City; and

€400,000 for harm reduction initiatives, including pilot drug monitoring at festivals and the night-time economy, expanded access to the drugs and alcohol helpline and increased provision of naloxone.

This majority of this funding has now been transferred to the HSE to expand drug and alcohol services. I recently announced a €2m fund to enhance community-based drug and alcohol services, with additional resources provided in Budget 2022. I am allocating between €200,000 and €240,000 per annum to the nine community healthcare organisations (CHOs), who will then commission community-based drug and alcohol services based on an assessment of population needs.

The national network of 24 drug and alcohol task forces will be centrally involved in the deciding how this funding will be spent and in commissioning the services. Task forces are based on an inter-agency partnership which is at the heart of the National Drugs Strategy. They are well placed to assess the needs of people who use drugs or alcohol and to support evidence-based interventions. I also want to involve people with lived experience of drug use in the design and delivery of the new services.

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