Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI) is a national voluntary agency providing services for homeless people and those that use drugs. There are 27 MQI locations in 14 counties in the Republic of Ireland (see Figure 1). MQI aims to offer accessible, high-quality, and effective services to people dealing with homelessness and addiction to meet their complex needs in a non-judgemental and compassionate way. This article highlights services provided by MQI to people who use drugs in Ireland in 2022.1

Source: MQI annual review 2022, p. 401

The 14 counties are Dublin, Wicklow, Carlow, Cork, Limerick, Offaly, Westmeath, Laois, Louth, Longford, Roscommon, Cavan, Monaghan, Kildare.

Figure 1: MQI locations in the Republic of Ireland 

Harm reduction services

The aim of harm reduction is to minimise the risks stemming from sharing drug-use paraphernalia. In 2022, MQI facilitated 35,787 interventions in its needle exchange and harm reduction services; 3,808 of these clients were unique.

Community Detox and opioid substitution therapy

In 2022, some 82 clients accessed the Community Detox service in the Riverbank Centre, Dublin, with 60 clients accessing benzodiazepine detox and 12 clients accessing alcohol detox; 144 clients accessed opioid substitution therapy.

Assertive In-Reach Service and community engagement

MQI has an Assertive In-Reach Service which supports and empowers clients to link in with different services to access appropriate and specialist supports. In 2022, the Assertive In-Reach worker supported 82 unique clients and provided 197 interventions.

A Community Engagement Team operates in the neighbourhood around Riverbank in Dublin 8 to strengthen relationships with the local community and stakeholders and proactively engage with clients and people sleeping rough in the area. The team also responds to calls and queries from the general public in relation to the local area as well as collecting drug litter. The team carried out 687 patrols in 2022, engaged with residents and local businesses, and collected 3,200 items of drug litter. 

Hepatitis C treatment

The hepatitis C worker is the member of the MQI team who liaises with the primary healthcare team to ensure clients who use drugs intravenously are screened for blood-borne viruses. This worker advocates for testing; if a client is positive, a general practitioner refers the client to a specialist nurse. The hepatitis C worker continues to regularly check in with clients in these situations, ensuring that they are attending appointments and receiving care where required. In 2022, some 176 unique clients engaged with the worker.

Midlands services

Drug and Alcohol Treatment Supports project

MQI’s Drug and Alcohol Treatment Supports team provides a community-based drug and alcohol treatment support service for individuals over 18 years of age and their families in the Midlands area (Counties Longford, Westmeath, Laois, and Offaly). Services provided include an outreach-based crisis support service, mobile harm reduction, needle and syringe exchange, rehabilitation and aftercare supports, and support for families affected by substance use. In 2022, some 725 unique individuals were supported through 9,008 interventions.

Recovery services

St Francis Farm and High Park

The St Francis Farm (SFF) Rehabilitation Service offers a 13-bed therapeutic facility with a 14-week rehabilitation programme set on a working farm in Tullow, Co. Carlow. At SFF, MQI provides a safe environment where service users can explore the reasons for their drug use, adjust to life without drugs, learn effective coping mechanisms, make positive choices about their future, and gain hands-on experience in animal care and vegetable production. In 2022, there were 173 referrals to the service, which was an increase of 4% compared with 2021 figures. There were 40 individuals admitted to SFF in 2022, and 27 people completed the programme.

At High Park in Drumcondra, Dublin, MQI operates a 14-week residential programme in a 13-bed facility. The emphasis is on assisting clients to gain insight into the issues that underpin their problematic drug use and on developing practical measures to prevent relapse, remain drug-free, and sustain recovery. In 2022, the service received 235 referrals; of these, 205 people completed assessments, 39 were admitted, and 27 completed treatment.

Prison-based services

Addiction Counselling Service and Mountjoy Drug Treatment Programme

MQI, in partnership with the Irish Prison Service, delivers a national prison-based Addiction Counselling Service aimed at prisoners with drug and alcohol problems in 11 Irish prisons. This service provides structured assessments, one-to-one counselling, therapeutic group work, and multidisciplinary care, in addition to release-planning interventions with clearly defined treatment plans and goals. Services offered include:

• Brief interventions
• Motivational interviewing and motivational enhancement therapy
• A 12-step facilitation programme
• Relapse prevention and overdose reduction
• Cognitive behavioural therapy
• Harm reduction approaches
• Individual care planning and release planning.

In 2022, MQI counselling staff saw a total of 2,126 unique clients, an increase of 10% on the previous year. In addition, MQI continued to operate a national phoneline where prisoners could access phone support; the service received 6,943 calls in 2022.

1    Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI) (2023) Merchants Quay Ireland annual review 2022. Dublin: Merchants Quay Ireland. Available from: https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/39781/