Despite efforts to clear the waiting list there are about 250 people waiting for drug treatment in the Dublin area, a Dail committee was told yesterday.
Mr Jimmy Duggan, principal officer with the Department of Health, told the Committee on European Affairs that more work needed to be done.
The committee is looking at how other European countries deal with their drug problem.
In October 1996 the waiting list was 450. Since then an additional 900 treatment places have been set up, and the list is still there, at around 250 people.
"Is that not defeating the whole purpose of a treatment programme?" Mr Tony Gregory TD (Ind) asked. Mr Duggan agreed treatment should be available on demand.
Mr Duggan said the problem certainly was not lack of money, but the board had difficulty finding locations for treatment centres and a shortage of qualified staff.
The Eastern Health Board (EHB) has eight treatment centres, 32 satellite clinics and a mobile clinic. Ninety-four GPs are dispensing methadone to 3,290 registered addicts, and the heroin substitute is being distributed through 112 pharmacies in the city, Mr Duggan said. The drugs help-line receives an average of 75 calls a week.
Ms Rosalyn Moran of the Health Research Board said a study was being carried out to bring the prison authorities and GPs on to the list of those who report drug addiction to the board. She said the EU spent 57 million ecus on drug prevention last year.
She said Irish drug-users were younger than the European average, which was 27 to 29 years old.
In Ireland two-thirds of drug-users were under 25. Four out of five of those looking for treatment in 1996 were under 25.
Mr Duggan said the number of people on methadone programmes in the EU had grown from 73,000 in 1993 to 200,000 in 1996. The lack of information on Dublin's heroin addict population was highlighted as TDs asked the experts to estimate the number.
Mr Duggan said figures between 2,500 and 10,000 had been used. "It's very difficult to be precise about the exact numbers."
Mr Gregory said prisoners who were on methadone treatment in prison had no access to treatment on temporary release. "So they would fall into the trap of having to go back on to the streets to get black market methadone or go back on heroin," he said.
