'It won’t happen overnight': Cork drug injection centre to take up to five years to deliver

Merchants Quay Ireland called on Government to commit to supervised injection in the city, while Cork TD says failure to act 'will cost lives'

A medically supervised drug injection centre in Portugal: Pádraig Rice, Social Democrats TD for Cork South Central, said there was an urgent need for a supervised injection centre in the city.

It would take up to five years to deliver a supervised injection centre for Cork due to planning and procurement processes, the head of addiction services provider Merchants Quay Ireland has said.

Eddie Mullins, whose organisation runs the only medically supervised injection centre in the country in Dublin, said: “With the best will in the world, it would take five years from agreement to have one in Cork, to get through planning, to selecting a service provider and finding a location."

He cited the nine-year timeline between approval for the supervised injection centre in Dublin and it being opened in late 2024.

Mr Mullins said it would be important for a commitment to be made to establish an injection centre, which would then allow for preparatory works to take place.

“It definitely won’t happen in 12 months and it won’t happen overnight."

There has been some discussion about the introduction of a mobile injection facility, but Mr Mullins said he did not believe adequate services would be delivered.

He said a permanent site had complimentary services, including a GP and mental health teams, while also providing aftercare for individuals using the injection facilities.

“The idea in the aftercare room is that you could be monitored, if you become unwell we can attend to you. We also get the opportunity to have a conversation,” Mr Mullins said.

He said it allowed for relationships to be built, which could not be done in a mobile facility.

Pádraig Rice, Social Democrats TD for Cork South Central, said there was an urgent need for a supervised injection centre in the city.

“We need a health-led approach to drugs and we need to start considering and planning a safe injection facility for Cork City. Failure to act here will cost lives,” Mr Rice said.

He said the Government had only given “vague commitments” to establishing additional injection centres in its draft drugs strategy.