The Minister for State for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy, Frank Feighan TD, today announced a €2 million fund to enhance community-based drug and alcohol services. The fund is part of the strategic priority to enhance access to and delivery of drug and alcohol services in the community in the national drugs strategy 2021-2025. Details of the fund were presented to the network of drug and alcohol task forces today.

Minister Feighan said:

“I am delighted to announce the establishment of the Community Services Enhancement Fund to provide funding of €2m on a recurring basis for community-based drug and alcohol services. I am allocating between €200,000 and €240,000 per annum to the nine community healthcare organisations (CHOs), who will then commission community-based drug and alcohol services based on an assessment of population needs.”

Minister Feighan continued:

“The national network of 24 drug and alcohol task forces will be centrally involved in the deciding how this funding will be spent and in commissioning the services. Task forces are based on an inter-agency partnership which is at the heart of the National Drugs Strategy. They are well placed to assess the needs of people who use drugs or alcohol and to support evidence-based interventions. I also want to involve people with lived experience of drug use in the design and delivery of the new services."

Twenty-five percent of the funding allocations is ring-fenced to increase access to and the provision of drug and alcohol services for women, ethnic minorities and the LGBTI+ community.

Minister Feighan commented:

“We know that women, ethnic minorities and the LGBTI+ community can face barriers in accessing drug and alcohol services. Their drug use can also be more complex due to gender and social factors."

The new funding is aligned with the emphasis on enhanced community care in the Sláintecare reform programme, that shifts care into the community and closer to people’s homes.

The Minister said:

"Drug and alcohol services should be part of community healthcare. By integrating services as part of primary care, the stigma of drug and alcohol use can be reduced and the diverse health needs of people who use drugs can be met. This is practical step in strengthening the health-led response to drug and alcohol use."

The Minister added that the type of services will be determined by population needs:

“We are seeing new drug and alcohol needs emerge, whether in the night-time economy, among young people, in disadvantaged communities or polydrug use. The funding will be allocated on three-year cycle, with ongoing monitoring and evaluation, to ensure that services are effective in addressing the needs of people who use drugs and alcohol.”

The funding is allocated on a population basis as follows:

CHOs 2, 3, 5 & 6 will each receive €200,000

CHOs 1, 4, 7, 8 & 9 will each receive €240,000

CHO 1 & 8 will ring-fence €80,000 from their respective allocations for the northeast region (€160,000 in total), to support the implementation of the Drogheda report

It is envisaged that the funding for the new services will be provided in Q1 2022.