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Welcome
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New Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy
In December 2022, Hildegarde Naughton TD was appointed as the new Minister of State with
responsibility for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy, as well as Government
Chief Whip. Minister Naughton has been a Fine Gael TD for Galway West since 2016. Her ministerial
role focuses on the promotion of healthier lifestyles and policies to improve the health of people
in Ireland, including overseeing the delivery of Ireland’s national drugs strategy, Reducing Harm,
Supporting Recovery 2017-2025.

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Cover story
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New estimates of problematic opioid use in Ireland, 2015–2019
by Seán Millar
Problematic opioid use is a significant problem in Ireland and across the world. However, measuring
the prevalence of opioid use is challenging. Given the nature of this population, a simple head
count is not feasible and general population surveys are known to be ineffective at capturing this
‘hidden’ population. Because people who use drugs fear stigmatisation and are often marginalised in
society, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) recommends the use of
indirect approaches, such as the capture–recapture (CRC) method, to estimate the prevalence of
problematic (high-risk) drug users.

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Policy and legislation
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Dublin NEIC progress report, 2022
by Lucy Dillon
In December 2022, Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD launched the Dublin North East Inner City (NEIC)
initiative’s 2022 progress report. Since its establishment in 2017, the NEIC’s vision is of ‘making
the North East Inner City a safe, attractive, and vibrant living and working environment for the
community and its families with opportunities for all to lead full lives’ (p. 6). This most recent
progress report describes the activities undertaken in 2022 to meet this aim.

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Policy considerations for the collection, use, and sharing of health and social care information in
Ireland
by Joan Devin
The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has published a report outlining key factors to
inform policy for the collection, use, and sharing of health and social care information in Ireland.
The report identifies four areas in which progress is needed to develop a robust health information
environment that will allow stakeholders to make choices and decisions based on the best available
information.

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Minimum unit pricing of alcohol: the Scottish experience
by Anne Doyle
In recognition of the harmful effects of alcohol use in the European Region, the World Health
Organization (WHO) recommends that measures be put in place to reduce population-level alcohol use.
One such recommendation is minimum unit pricing (MUP). MUP specifically targets the heaviest
drinkers who buy the cheapest alcohol. By reducing its affordability, less alcohol will be purchased
and consumed, reducing the harm that alcohol causes to people who drink and others.

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Conference on addiction recovery and the gap between evidence and political will
by Lucy Dillon
The event ‘Addiction Recovery: The Gap between Scientific Evidence and Political Will’ was held in
Trinity College Dublin on Friday, 11 November 2022. The event was hosted by Professor Jo-Hanna
Ivers, an associate professor in addiction at the university. The overarching theme of the event was
addiction recovery under which six presentations were made by international experts on the topic.
These experts came from the universities of Leeds and Birmingham in the United Kingdom and Stanford
and Harvard in the United States.

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Recent research
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Understanding professional views of the impact of parental problem alcohol use
by Anne Doyle
A study examining the experience of mental health professionals working with clients who have
experienced problem alcohol use in the home during childhood was conducted in collaboration with
University College Cork and the Silent Voices initiative of Alcohol Action Ireland.

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Third edition of Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity published
by Anne Doyle
The latest edition of Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity was published in November 2022 following on
from the success of the previous two editions. The third edition provides an updated examination of
alcohol-related harms globally, while also updating and critically reviewing the scientific evidence
of global alcohol control policies.

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Kettil Bruun Society thematic meeting 2022: youth drinking in decline
by Anne Doyle
Across most high-income countries, youth drinking is in decline and researchers are increasingly
focusing on the nature and underlying reasons for this decline. To explore this phenomenon, the
Kettil Bruun Society for Social and Epidemiological Research on Alcohol held a thematic meeting in
Stockholm, Sweden, titled ‘Youth Drinking in Decline’. This three-day event held at Systembolaget
conference facility on the island of Skarpö outside Stockholm

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Prevalence/current situation
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Nitrous oxide use in Ireland
by Deirdre Mongan
In Ireland and internationally, there has been much attention on the growing popularity of nitrous
oxide. In response, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) has
published a report on nitrous oxide in Europe in order to increase awareness and to help
stakeholders prepare for and respond to public health and social threats associated with nitrous
oxide. As part of the EMCDDA report, the Health Research Board (HRB) compiled a case report on the
current situation regarding nitrous oxide in Ireland.

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Drug use among 20-year-olds in Ireland: results from the Growing Up in Ireland study
by Seán Millar
Since 2006, the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study, a national longitudinal study of children and
young people, has followed a cohort of children born in 1998. Four waves of interviews have been
conducted with this cohort, when they were aged 9, 13, 17–18, and 20 years old.

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Healthy Ireland Survey 2022: summary of alcohol findings
by Anne Doyle
The eight wave of the Healthy Ireland Survey, carried out by Ipsos and commissioned by the
Department of Health, involves a representative sample from the general population aged 15 years and
over to increase knowledge of the population’s health and health behaviours.

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Planet Youth in Fingal, Cavan, and Monaghan
by Lucy Dillon
The Planet Youth programme is being implemented in an increasing number of regions in Ireland. There
are currently six Planet Youth sites at various stages of implementation: Galway, Mayo, Roscommon,
Fingal, Cavan, and Monaghan. Since the start of 2022, the three latter regions have published
reports from their first waves of survey data. The reports present an overview of baseline data on
health and wellbeing indicators as well as associated risk and protective factors.

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National Self-Harm Registry annual report, 2020
by Seán Millar
The 2020 annual report from National Self-Harm Registry Ireland was published in 2022. The report
contains information relating to every recorded presentation of deliberate self-harm to acute
hospital emergency departments in Ireland in 2020 and complete national coverage of cases treated.
All individuals who were alive on admission to hospital following deliberate self-harm were
included, along with the methods of deliberate self-harm that were used. Accidental overdoses of
medication, street drugs, or alcohol were not included.

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Responses
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Naloxone administration in Ireland, 2018–2020
by Seán Millar
Opioids are the main drug group implicated in drug overdose deaths in Ireland. Naloxone is an
antidote for opioid overdose that reverses the depressant effects of opioids such as heroin.
Following a successful pilot of the Naloxone Demonstration Project in 2015, the Health Service
Executive (HSE) developed a naloxone training programme for service providers. However, there has
been little evaluation of the expanded naloxone programme since its initial pilot phase. A 2022
report aimed to provide an assessment of the impact of the provision of naloxone and training to
addiction and homeless service providers in Ireland. This article highlights the main findings.

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Coolmine annual report, 2021
by Lucy Dillon
The annual report for 2021 for Coolmine was launched on 15 November 2022. The launch was held in
Ashleigh House, Dublin, which is Coolmine’s residential service for women and children. Ashleigh
House is part of a suite of addiction services provided by the organisation, offering community and
day services, as well as residential services for women and their children, and men. Services are
delivered across 13 facilities, including those in the Mid-West and South West, which were
established in 2021.

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Recent publications
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Recent publications
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Drugs and alcohol data (insert)
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Resource allocation and Irish health service reform
by Brian Galvin
The Sláintecare report by the all-party Committee on the Future of Healthcare and the Sláintecare
Implementation Strategy are the key policy documents outlining the Irish Government’s commitment to
a system of universal healthcare and the mechanisms by which it is to be implemented.

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Analysis of the relationship between addiction treatment data and geographic deprivation in Ireland
by Patrick Collins (Pobal), Anne Marie Carew (HRB), Sarah Craig (HRB), Brian Galvin (HRB), Suzi
Lyons (HRB) and Martin Quigley (Pobal)
The Pobal HP Deprivation Index, developed by Haase and Pratschke in 2017, uses 2016 Census data to
determine relative scores of disadvantage or affluence for Ireland’s 18,488 Small Areas (SA). This
index is Ireland’s primary social gradient tool used regularly for the allocation of State resources
to target community-level disadvantage.

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Analysis of national drug and alcohol data by regional health area
by Derek O’Neill, Ita Condron, Cathy Kelleher, Suzi Lyons, Deirdre Mongan and Seán Millar
This article presents the most recently available drug and alcohol data on treatment demand, general
population prevalence, and opioid prevalence analysed by regional health area in Ireland.

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New online regional data resource created by HRB
by Mary Dunne
The Health Research Board (HRB) National Drugs Library has a new online resource that provides
regional data on alcohol and other drugs. There are nine Community Healthcare Organisations (CHOs)
in Ireland whose services are delivered through the Health Service Executive (HSE) and its funded
agencies.

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