More than 100 people have used Ireland’s first medically supervised injecting facility (MSIF) since it opened almost a month ago, with numbers rising each week.
The service at Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI) in Dublin’s south inner city opened in December, almost a decade after first being proposed by government. It faced multiple delays and objections, hampering progress through the planning process.
MQI chief executive Eddie Mullins said its opening marked a “momentous shift in policy in how we treat some of our most marginalised and stigmatised people”.
In the three and a half weeks since it opened, it has had more than 300 visits by a total of 108 people.
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There were 47 visits in its first full week of operation, 88 in the second, and 106 in the third, “illustrating the need for this vital health-led service”, a Department of Health spokesman said.
The majority accessing it (84 per cent) were men, with 16 per cent women, most aged between 25 and 44 years. The vast majority (81 per cent) said they were there to use heroin. All who use the service bring their own drugs.
“There have been six overdoses in the service, five of which were managed through the administration of oxygen alone, while only one case involved administration of [opiate overdose medication] naloxone,” said the spokesman.
Minister of State with responsibility for the national drugs strategy Colm Burke, who visited the service on the quays on Thursday, said growing numbers using the MSIF underlined a “clear demand” for it.
“As well as providing medical attention when needed, and enabling access to health and social care services, the MSIF is helping to make the local community safer by removing instances of drug-injecting from public spaces,” he said.
“We are in the very early stages of this 18-month pilot, but it is already very encouraging to see how people who require this service are connecting with it. Today I’ve had the opportunity to meet MQI staff at Riverbank House and hear about the very positive engagements with people using the service, and I want to warmly congratulate [staff] for their efforts.”
The service was granted an 18-month licence by Mr Burke under the Misuse of Drugs (Supervised Injecting Facilities) Act 2017.
Mr Mullins said the service was “not just about providing a safe, medically supervised space for injecting drugs that saves lives, it also offers people who are often marginalised in our society a chance to access vital healthcare and social supports”.
The draft programme for government published on Wednesday commits to a “health-led approach to drug addiction”. The incoming government will “explore the establishment of mobile medically supervised injecting facilities in areas of need”, it adds. It is thought such a facility would open first in Cork.
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