Staff at detox unit told to apply for lottery funds

Exasperated staff at the country’s only mother and child detox unit have been told by the Government to apply for lottery funding in a last-ditch effort to keep the unit open.

The Coolmine unit has had to tell the 20 mothers who are on the waiting list that they are not taking any more entrants.

This will not change unless the drug agency receives €100,000 to hire a nurse and childcare specialist, without which they cannot legally operate.