The Sláintecare report by the all-party Committee on the Future of Healthcare and the Sláintecare Implementation Strategy are the key policy documents outlining the Irish Government’s commitment to a system of universal healthcare and the mechanisms by which it is to be implemented.

The Pobal HP Deprivation Index, developed by Haase and Pratschke in 2017, uses 2016 Census data to determine relative scores of disadvantage or affluence for Ireland’s 18,488 Small Areas (SA). This index is Ireland’s primary social gradient tool used regularly for the allocation of State resources to target community-level disadvantage.

This article presents the most recently available drug and alcohol data on treatment demand, general population prevalence, and opioid prevalence analysed by regional health area in Ireland.

The Health Research Board (HRB) National Drugs Library has a new online resource that provides regional data on alcohol and other drugs. There are nine Community Healthcare Organisations (CHOs) in Ireland whose services are delivered through the Health Service Executive (HSE) and its funded agencies.