197. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Health the progress towards establishing a supervised injecting facility in Dublin. [30340/17]

198. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Health if he has confirmed with the HSE that a pilot supervised injecting facility will open in Dublin in 2017; and if so, the funding allocated to same. [30341/17]

199. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Health the way in which a pilot supervised injecting facility will open by the end of 2017; the date on which expressions of interest will be sought; the time that will be allocated to receive these; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30342/17]

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Catherine Byrne): I propose to take Questions Nos. 197 to 199, inclusive, together.

The Misuse of Drugs (Supervised Injecting Facilities) Act 2017 was signed by the President on 16 May 2017. It is important to note that the Act will not establish the location of the Supervised Injecting Facility (SIF). However, it is envisaged that the first such facility would be established in Dublin city centre, where there is a significant, recognised problem of public injecting. In line with the experience in other countries which have established such facilities, it is expected that the location will be carefully selected to address, most effectively, the requirements and concerns of the service users and the wider community.

The HSE has been tasked with establishing the SIF in 2017 and has established a working group to gather data, consider possible options and to undertake public consultation before any decision is made on a specific location. Local stakeholder engagement and consultation will be critical to the success of any pilot facility.

It is estimated that it will cost in the region of €1.5m a year to run the SIF. The HSE has been allocated €750,000 in 2017 to set up the facility before the end of the current year.

The Department of Health has been informed that the HSE working group will make recommendations on programme design and governance structures to the HSE Social Inclusion Governance Group (SIGG) to inform an appropriate procurement process.