Written answers
Wednesday, 17 September 2025
Department of Health
Substance Misuse
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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1151. To ask the Minister for Health to identify the members of the National Drugs Strategy review steering group. [47817/25]
Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy, Jennifer Murnane O’Connor, has established a steering group to oversee the drafting of the successor National Drugs Strategy (NDS), as well as a two-year action plan to support its delivery. The group has a limited time period of December 2025 to complete its work.
The work of the steering group will be informed by the Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use, the independent evaluation of the current strategy and feedback from consultations with stakeholders. This is in alignment with commitments in the Programme for Government: Securing Ireland’s Future.
Membership of the Steering Group is as follows:
| Dr Sarah Morton, chairperson | University College Dublin (UCD) |
|---|---|
| Cliodhna Power | Civil Society |
| Pauline McKeon | Civil Society, National Voluntary Drug and Alcohol Sector Chair |
| Professor Eamon Keenan | Health Service Executive (HSE) |
| Máire Flanagan | Department of An Taoiseach |
| Mary O'Regan | Department of Justice |
| Brian Galvin | Health Research Board (HRB) |
| Brian Kirwan | Health Service Executive (HSE) |
| Professor Paul Griffiths | National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Australia |
| Dr Edward Day | University of Birmingham and National Recovery Champion UK |
| Jim Walsh | Department of Health |
In line with the Terms of Reference of the Steering Group, a Reference Group is being established to support its work on development of the new National Drugs Strategy, ensuring decisions are informed by real-world knowledge and lived experience.
The reference group will bring together people from different organisations and communities to share ideas, experiences, and advice to help shape the new drugs strategy to better address the harms arising from drug use, including problematic alcohol use. The remit of the reference group is to:
- Provide feedback on the draft strategy, governance, and action plan for the new national drugs strategy.
- Help identify challenges and opportunities and share insights from their communities or sectors.
- Suggest practical solutions based on frontline experience to inform the drafting of the governance and action plans for the delivery of the new strategy.
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