623. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health the number of phone calls received by the HSE drug and alcohol helpline in each of the past ten years and to date in 2021. [55998/21] 

Minister of State at the Department of Health Frank Feighnan: The HSE Drugs and Alcohol Helpline provides a free confidential place where people can talk through their concerns about drugs or alcohol, get information about services and consider the options available to improve their situation. The freephone helpline is accessible Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 5.30pm and can be accessed by calling Freephone 1800 459 459 or emailing helpline@hse.ie. The figures in the following table represent calls and emails to the HSE Drugs and Alcohol Helpline from 2011 to September 2021. They show a doubling in the number of call and emails from 2,712 in 2011 to 5,874 in 2020. 

In 2021, I provided an additional €127,500 to employed an three more addiction counsellors. It is estimated that these additional staff resources will enable the the Helpline to deal with 672 more contacts per month, a 140 per cent increase in capacity. The additional staff will also allow the opening hours of the service to expand in line with need. This will allow for opening later in the evenings and consideration of providing a level of weekend cover. 

*The figures given for 2021 are for Q1 to Q3 only. It is anticipated that the total number of contacts for 2021 is likely to be reduced when compared to previous years as the service was impacted by the cyber attack in May 2021, resulting in a reduced capacity to take calls at that time, and no capacity to take emails for several weeks.