Department of Health is in favour of injection facility for Cork, meeting hears

The Department of Health is in favour of a national roll-out of medically supervised injection facilities (MSIF), following the success of a pilot project at Merchant’s Quay in Dublin.

The comments came during a meeting of the Cork Local Community Safety Partnership (LCSP) on Tuesday 30 June.

David Lane, General Manager for Social Inclusion and the Co-ordinator of Drugs and Alcohol Services at the HSE for Cork and Kerry, said the facility in Dublin has seen “really positive results”, and he is pushing for a similar facility to be opened in Cork city.

“It’s been having a really positive impact on the immediate environment in which it has been operating, which was an area known for public injecting and drug use, and a whole range of social issues relating to the problems with addiction.

“I know that it’s going to be mainstreamed, and I know that the Department of Health is certainly interested in looking at the potential of services like that in other parts of the country as well,” he said.

The MSIF at Merchant’s Quay was first proposed in 2019, and opened its doors in 2024.

It was granted permanent planning permission last month.

A report on the pilot programme is expected to be published before the end of the year.

However, he said stakeholders need to be looking past just opiate misuse, and taking examples from other countries in Europe, to provide support for drug users outside of heroin users.

He said the biggest challenge they will face in setting up a MSIF in Cork will be planning objections from residents of the area in which it is proposed.

However, he said Cork is “well ahead” of where Dublin was when the Merchant’s Quay facility was first proposed in 2019.

“There’s huge support in terms of public representatives, huge support in terms of state organisations, such as An Garda Síochána and ourselves in the Health Service, and in the community and voluntary sector as well,” he said.

Support for a MSIF in Cork was also expressed by representatives of the LCSP and An Garda Síochána at a meeting of the UCC Area Neighbourhood Safety Forum on 19 May.

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.