Aengus Ó Snodaigh
Question:144 Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Taoiseach the number of drug related deaths each year for the past five years in Waterford. [5168/08]
View answerTuesday, 12 February 2008
Questions (49, 50)
Written answers
The number of drug related deaths of Waterford residents from 2002 to 2006 is as follows:
|
Year |
Number of deaths |
|
2002 |
0 |
|
2003 |
3 |
|
2004 |
4 |
|
2005 |
1 |
|
2006 |
1 |
Figures for 2007 are not yet available. Figures for 2005 and 2006 are provisional and subject to revision. These figures were derived using the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) definition of drug related deaths, which refers to those deaths that are caused directly by the consumption of drugs of abuse.
Aengus Ó Snodaigh
Question:145 Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Taoiseach the number of suicides and fatal accidents where illegal drugs were found to be present in the system of the deceased for each year for the past five years. [5175/08]
View answerThe information requested by the deputy is not available. Deaths are coded according to the Ninth Revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Causes of Death, Volume 9 (ICD9). Only the underlying cause of death is recorded for cause of death statistics. Thus, the fact that drugs were found to be present in the system of the deceased will not be retained if this is not the cause of death. Secondly, some legal and illegal drugs have the same ICD9 code (e.g. methadone and heroin), so it is not possible to identify deaths from illegal drugs only.