Senator Maria McCormack: I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I acknowledge her work in this area. The drugs strategy is part of her brief. This is an urgent issue for Laois and Portlaoise. It goes to the heart of patient safety, dignity and access to care. I refer to the urgent need for medically supervised detoxification beds at Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise. We have no rehabilitation centres for anyone with addiction in Laois. There are no detoxification beds in the county. There are no dedicated detoxification beds in Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise. This means that when people in the midlands present seeking help for serious alcohol or drug dependence, they are often left waiting in overcrowded emergency departments or, even worse, discharged into unsafe environments where withdrawal can be medically dangerous and, in some cases, life-threatening.

This is not a policy gap on paper; it is something that families have to live with in Laois and all over Ireland every day. Loved ones finally reach a point where they can ask for help, often at a great personal cost, only to find out that the system cannot safely respond at a critical moment. The gap has been repeatedly highlighted by the ARC Project in Laois, a voluntary, community-led initiative supporting individuals affected by addiction and their families. The ARC Project provides peer-led recovery supports, family spaces and community-based programmes rooted in lived experiences. It works with people at the most difficult points of their lives and sees first-hand how the absence of these detox beds acts as barrier to recovery and, at times, puts people in serious risk.

Following advocacy from the ARC Project, a motion was brought before Laois County Council by Marie Tuohy calling on the Minister for Health to establish three medically supervised detoxification beds in Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise, with seven-day admission pathways and clear links to HSE addiction services and community recovery supports. That motion reflects a strong, growing consensus locally that this gap must be addressed. There is also a public petition signed by hundreds of people in Laois and across Ireland requesting this. The ask is modest; it is just three beds. It is practical and achievable, but three detox beds would provide safe medical supervision during withdrawal, reduce the pressure on already overstretched emergency departments, support families at a moment of acute crisis and, crucially, create a real, safe pathway into recovery, rather than another dead end, and sometimes, in cases, suicide, which is an area we really have to acknowledge and do more work in.

I ask the Minister of State to acknowledge the lack of detoxification beds at Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise. What are the plans to address it? I know we spoke before and the Minister of State is aware of the great work that the ARC Project is doing in Portlaoise, and I welcome that she will visit it. That it is important and we would like her to visit Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise and the midlands. We would also like the Minister to visit. We need this issue to get to the forefront and for something to be done about it, because we cannot continue to leave people who need to do safe detoxification with nowhere to turn.

Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor: I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise is a model 3 hospital, providing acute care services, with 71 beds.

As we know, it serves the populations of Laois, Kildare, Carlow and north Tipperary. As the Senator said, the hospital does not provide supervised detoxification beds and at present, there are no proposals for this. I will speak to officials to look at this and keep it under consideration. As the Senator noted, I received a draft of the national drugs strategy last week and I welcome this. I also have instructed the Department officials to put the draft of the strategy out to public consultation and I will have the details of this soon. It is important that it happens because it will be very important in the future.

The demand for drug services is reported annually through the national drugs treatment reporting system. In 2024 more than 22,000 cases of problem drug and alcohol use were treated. Of these, 20% were treated in residential settings, which also are known as a tier 4 service. This is the difference and it includes treatment in specialised inpatient detoxification services. Residential treatment services are provided by specialist and dedicated inpatient residential units or wards, which provide inpatient detoxification or assisted withdrawal and stabilisation. Some of the service users with complex needs, such as dual diagnosis, which the Senator spoke about, or pregnancy, liver or HIV-related problems, may need inpatient treatment in general psychiatric wards or acute hospitals.

The HSE centre provides annual funding of €8.4 million for treatment episodes, depending on regional needs and service capacity. This is why the new drugs strategy will be so important when we put it out to public consultation. It is ten years since we had the last national drugs strategy and it is very important now because drugs affect everyone. I can honestly say there is not a family or someone who knows a family in Ireland that is not affected by drugs. This is what we have to look at now. We have to look at the services, where they are and who can access them, as well as making sure the services are there for the people who need them. This is part of the new drugs strategy and it is so important. I am very mindful of this.

Approximately 174 residential treatment detoxification beds are available nationally. These are from a variety of service providers. Access to residential detoxification beds is based on need. Someone from the midlands region can access residential services in any suitable location. The provision of the detoxification programme occurs after a comprehensive medical assessment. In some cases it may be appropriate to provide detoxification in a community setting through a doctor or a HSE addiction clinic. People who wish to access a detoxification service should make contact with their GP or local drugs service to make a referral.

Budget 2026 provided €11 million in additional funding for drug and inclusive health services. This includes residential services and I recently opened the new HSE Cuan Dara residential treatment facility, which will benefit from this new funding. This facility will provide an additional 18 residential treatment beds for medically complex cases, bringing the capacity to 30 beds. These additional beds will be available for people seeking treatment for complex additional needs, including dual diagnosis, pregnancy or other medical conditions, on a national basis. This demonstrates that we are committed and I understand that we need to look at the services on a region-by-region basis. I thank the Senator for highlighting this very important issue today.

Senator Maria McCormack: I welcome that the Minister of State has said that drugs and addiction more broadly is something that affects every family. There is no family across the island of Ireland that is not affected by it. This is why it is so important that we do everything we can. The Minister of State spoke about residential services. Unfortunately, when we live in a county such as Laois we do not have any of this. There is nowhere people can go for residential treatment for any of these services. This is why this modest ask of just three detoxification beds is so important.

I understand that we have only a model 3 hospital; I did not know this is a reason we cannot have the service I am asking for. There is a growing population and we have well over 93,000 people in County Laois. As the Minister of State knows, Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise serves counties around all around it. People are on trolleys in the emergency department there every day. We have a psychiatric unit and a maternity unit. We have so much there and yet we cannot provide for the most vulnerable people in our communities who are dealing with addiction.

Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor: Providing access to high-quality drug and alcohol services is a key priority of mine and the Department, and I am focused on the whole country.

The Department of Health is finalising a audit of drug and alcohol services. This will support our new health regions in their planning. This is what we are working on at the moment, namely, funding and delivery of drug and alcohol services. It will highlight those areas and groups that are unequal. This is what I am really focused on. I can assure the Senator that it is my intention to provide equal access to services, in line with the Sláintecare principle of right care, right place, right time. I am looking forward to visiting in the next few days. I have the appointment made. I would love to see the Senator there and it is important for me to meet everyone, to see what we need to look at and what we can do.