Merchant’s Quay Ireland provided more than 76,500 meals last year while its primary healthcare service for homeless people made 3,316 client interventions.
The annual report for 2012 of the homeless food service will be launched today by Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton.
It discloses that Merchant’s Quay Ireland’s needle-exchange service in Dublin recorded 20,847 client visits in 2012, up almost 2,000 on 2011.
Altogether, 3,634 individuals accessed its needle-exchange programme in 2012, of which 558 were new users.
Outside Dublin, its Midlands Harm Reduction Outreach Service worked with an average 130 clients a month in 2012, providing over 3,000 needle exchange interventions. Across its residential facilities, there was an increase in the number of people from outside Dublin accessing its services.
Twenty-five per cent of admissions to its St Francis Farm detox unit came from Munster, while 30 per cent of admissions to the St Francis Farm drug- free rehabilitation programme came from the southeast.
Forty-six per cent of those accessing its drug-free rehabilitation service at High Park were from outside Dublin, highlighting the need for detox and rehab facilities across Ireland.
The annual report also says that poly-drug use remains prevalent with 75 per cent of needle-exchange users reporting use of multiple substances. A combination of heroin, benzodiazepines and alcohol was the most common in 2012.
Meanwhile the Coolmine Therapeutic Community says it is “saving the State over €6 million every year by helping up to 1,000 people overcome their addiction and return to contribute to society”.
Source: Patsy McGarry, Irish Times, 06/09/2013
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