Home > Merchants Quay Ireland - annual review 2005.

Reynolds, Siobhan (2006) Merchants Quay Ireland - annual review 2005. Drugnet Ireland, Issue 20, Winter 2006, p. 23.

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Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI) launched its annual review for 20051 on 29 September 2006. Speaking at the launch, chief executive Tony Geoghegan said that the number of people using MQI’s drugs and homeless services had grown last year.

The city-centre needle exchange and the health promotion programmes were particularly busy. He said that more than 3,000 people had used the agency’s needle-exchange service last year. The report shows that a total of 470 new injectors presented in 2005, up 6% on 2004. Mr Geoghegan said that people tended to inject drugs for a year before they sought treatment, and that during this period they were putting themselves at risk of contracting hepatitis C or HIV. He expressed concern at the high number of people accessing the MQI service and highlighted the lack of localised harm-reduction services.

The report also highlights the increasing demand for MQI’s homeless services, particularly by people from the new EU member states. By September 2005 there was an average of 20 to 30 eastern Europeans attending the service every day. In response to this, MQI has produced information leaflets in a number of languages and some staff have taken language classes.

The types of service offered by MQI and the numbers of people accessing them in 2005 are shown below.

 

Service

Type of intervention

Number of participants

Outcomes

Needle exchange

health promotion services

Promoting safer injecting techniques

HIV and hepatitis prevention

Safe sex advice

Information on overdose

3,339 (including 470 new injectors)

321 safer injecting workshops

Not available

Stabilisation services

Methadone substitution

29

Not available

Supportive day programmes

11

Not available

Gateway Programme

33 (average per month)

Not available

Counselling

Not available

Not available

Settlement service

Assist service users to access interim and long-term accommodation

An average of 80 service users a month

An average of 10 service users availed of the Tenancy Sustainment Service each month

Integration programmes

Access to transitional accommodation (Ballymount House) for up to 24 weeks

Group and one-to-one therapeutic sessions

12

Not available

Training and work programmes

FÁS Community Employment scheme

 

140

70 secured permanent employment or moved to further education

Catering training programme

22

20 registered for certification for FETAC National Certificate in culinary skills

High Park

17-week, drug-free residential programme including individual counselling, group therapy, educational groups, work assignments and recreational activities

51 (of whom 13 were admitted for detoxification)

 

11 completed detox

St Francis Farm

Therapeutic facility offering a 6–12-month programme

26

12 completed 3 months or more

 

  1. Merchants Quay Ireland (2006) Annual Review 2005. Dublin: MQI.
Item Type
Article
Publication Type
Irish-related, Open Access, Article
Drug Type
All substances
Intervention Type
Harm reduction
Issue Title
Issue 20, Winter 2006
Date
October 2006
Page Range
p. 23
Publisher
Health Research Board
Volume
Issue 20, Winter 2006
EndNote
Accession Number
HRB (Available)

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