Number of teenagers with mental health issues attending drug addiction services 'through the roof'

Eight out of 10 adolescents attending an addiction treatment service have both a drug problem and mental health issue,  Oireachtas committee hears.

Eight out of 10 adolescents attending an addiction treatment service have both a drug problem and mental health issue, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

Sara Cassidy, head of clinical services at treatment organisation Aiséirí, said “dual diagnosis” — drug and psychiatric issues — was “through the roof”.

Parallel with this, she said 40% of their adolescent clients were diagnosed with ADHD and other forms of neurodiversity.

Aiséirí, set up in 1983, is located in four counties in the South-East and operates Aislinn — the only residential addiction treatment service for young people aged 15-21.

Ms Cassidy told the Oireachtas drugs committee 60% of adult admissions to its service have a dual diagnosis, rising to 80% of adolescent admissions.

“Dual diagnosis is through the roof,” she said, adding they had to employ a psychiatrist to help them deal with the surge in need.

Ms Cassidy said addiction and substance misuse was “undoubtedly a pervasive problem” and the age at which people were requiring treatment has “dropped dramatically” in recent years.

She said, in addition to mental health issues and neurodiversity, the backgrounds of their clients included trauma, intergenerational family addiction, educational deficits, housing, and deprivation.

She told the committee the Aislinn service has “capacity but is underutilised” by the State, despite a “massive and growing” national addiction problem.

She said the HSE both “holds the purse strings” and was “in control” of who they refer to Aiséirí, and it had a strategy to deal with young people with addiction in the community.

“We are there, ready, and willing to help, but they [the young people] are not coming,” she said.

“There are many that are dying out there — that is not recognised.”

Gerry McElroy, chief excutive of Cuan Mhuire, told the committee they were the largest voluntary provider of residential treatment and rehabilitation services in Ireland — with centres in Kildare, Limerick, Cork, and Galway.

They had 1,923 admissions for their residential programme in 2024 — with 63% stating alcohol was the primary addiction, 26% reporting drugs as their main problem, and 11% citing gambling.

Mr McElroy said a “high percentage” of their clients had a mental health diagnosis along with addiction, and they “urgently need support” from mental health services.

He said the housing crisis meant they found it “extremely difficult” to support people with accommodation.

Noel Murphy of Soilse, a HSE recovery addiction rehabilitation programme in Dublin’s north inner city, said they work with individuals experiencing “complex and entrenched” substance use issues, many of them also suffering social and health disadvantage.

GP Garrett McGovern said the HSE addiction service was an opiate addiction service, which needed to restructure to reflect modern drug use, including cocaine, benzodiazepine, and ketamine use.

He said ketamine was a “really big” drug, with “more and more” people presenting, suffering physical and psychological issues.