The Dublin Simon Emergency Shelter provides up to six months accommodation to 30 residents. Hostel admission is largely restricted to persons living on the streets and referrals usually come through the through the Simon Rough Sleeper team. Most of the homeless persons accepted are high risk intravenous heroin users who are not in treatment. The level of risk has meant a high rate of hospital admissions for drug related conditions. The health and resource implications of neglecting to treat residents’ opiate addiction are high.

This internal evaluation of the Safetynet methadone programme in the Dublin Simon Emergency Shelter was undertaken after six months of programme implementation in order to evaluate its impact. Methods included interviews with staff and clients of the shelter, assessment of drug use and social functioning before and after commencing treatment and an analysis of quantitative Shelter and nursing data.