Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 April 2014
599. Deputy Seán Kenny asked the Minister for Health the amount the Health Service Executive spends on drug and gambling addiction; if he will provide details of the various programmes nationwide for preventing and treating drug and gambling addiction in 2012 and 2013 [16258/14]
View answerThe HSE does not provide specific services for persons with a gambling addiction. However, those who present for addiction treatment for gambling are offered the same range of interventions as those who present with a drug and alcohol addiction, or a mental health concern. Counselling and rehabilitation services provide care to those presenting with a gambling addiction through one to one counselling, financial advice and onward referral to other statutory and voluntary groups where appropriate, such as Gamblers Anonymous.
The HSE also provides funding to a number of voluntary service providers who treat gambling addictions in addition to drug and alcohol addictions. This funding is provided from Drug and Alcohol services core funding. The apportionment of funding dedicated solely to gambling addiction cannot be extracted from overall funding.
The identified HSE expenditure for Addiction Services in 2012 totalled €90.752m. The allocation for 2013 was €91.546m. In addition, other areas of the HSE provide services to clients with addiction problems – these include Health Promotion, Mental Health (with the exception of the North West area which is included in the above figure), Acute Hospital Services and Emergency Departments, and Primary Care.
