I thank the Chair for choosing this matter to be taken on the Adjournment. I also thank the Minister, who has a busy schedule, for being in attendance. I congratulate him on becoming the new Minister for Health and Children for Cork.
This matter is different to the previous one raised in that it involves a micro as opposed to a macro problem. However, it is suitable to the Adjournment because it is very specific and can easily be outlined in five minutes. It requires a relatively small investment and, as a result, I hope the Minister will say yes.
This matter arises from a meeting I attended in a residential addiction treatment centre for adults in Cork called Tabor Lodge, with which the Minister is familiar. To appreciate the need for this request one must first consider the work which takes place in an establishment such as Tabor Lodge. The lodge offers a 28-day residential treatment programme based on a US model and caters for all types of addictions, including eating disorders, but the patients are mainly alcoholics or drug addicts.
A huge amount of work, expense and expertise goes into trying to achieve positive results – group therapy, lectures, videos, one-to-one counselling, isolation from the environment which led to the addiction, meditation and so on. As a result there is a high success ratio in institutions such as Tabor Lodge for addicts who enter the programme in a positive frame of mind.
However, everyone involved in the treatment has found that, while the programme may be a success in itself, when the individuals or addicts go back to their home environment they find their lives going off the rails again, very quickly in some cases. To be moved from intensive residential treatment to the home environment which, in many cases, caused the original problem, is for many too big a step taken too quickly and their addiction takes over once more. For this reason, a halfway house for women has been set up and funded in response to the need for a residential supportive environment for women in the early stages of recovery following addiction treatment. The facility is called Renewal and is situated on Blarney Road, Cork. The Minister may have visited it. It has been a great success as shown by the comment of one patient who said that it gave her the ability to let her inner light shine through her journey of recovery. This facility provides an environment where people can get the best out of themselves while recovering and trying to regain employment, a house and their family and get their lives back in order.
Unfortunately, there is no such facility for men in Cork. By not providing such a facility are we suggesting that they are better able to cope with addiction recovery than women? I hope that is not the case because the evidence suggests otherwise. We must provide halfway house residential accommodation where men can get the support they need after treatment so that they can get their lives back in order. Otherwise the original treatment is a complete waste of time and money, and a revolving door syndrome emerges similar to that in the prisons system where many addicts return to addiction and have to repeat treatment.
Like many other urban centres, Cork has a huge drug and alcohol addiction problem, particularly among young males. One method of combating this scourge is through the provision of proper treatment and rehabilitation so that addicts have a chance to recover. I ask the Minister to give men in Cork a chance when they are trying to recover from drug addiction by providing a similar facility to that available to women. This will not cost a large amount of money but people treated at such a facility will recover far more effectively than at present.
Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin): I thank Deputy Coveney for raising this matter. As he will be aware the Southern Health Board has statutory responsibility for the provision of alcohol and drug treatment services in its area. The board provides a range of services, mainly through its out-patient facility at Arbour House, Cork and its outreach and counselling services throughout Cork and Kerry. The board received additional funding of £260,000 in 2000 for the further development of drug treatment services in its area. This provides for maintaining and further developing the assessment, treatment, advisory research and training services provided at Arbour House, including the further development of outreach facilities.
In its service plan the board also stated that it will continue to work with the relevant voluntary organisations to provide residential places for people with drug and alcohol problems who are in need of such services. In addition, the north Cork local drugs task force is involved in developing a strategic, locally-based response to the drug problem. The task force, which comprises members from statutory, voluntary and community sectors, supports and funds 21 projects in Cork city.
The board has made provision in its 2000 service plan to support a women's halfway house facility, provided through Tabor Lodge. This will provide rehabilitation, counselling and assistance to women who have completed a primary treatment programme, but who need additional support to remain drug free. The board was not aware of a proposal for an addiction treatment halfway house facility for men and would, therefore, have made no provision for such a service when preparing its 2000 service plan.
However, preliminary discussions have taken place about the feasibility of developing a similar service for men to the one which is being supported for women at Tabor Lodge. When the board receives this proposal it will consider it in the context of providing a continuum of care and a comprehensive treatment and aftercare service for men recovering from substance misuse. I assure the Deputy that this proposal will receive a sympathetic hearing and I will raise the issue with the health board.
The Dáil adjourned at 5.15 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 8 February 2000.