A paper titled ‘A qualitative analysis of people who died by suicide and had gambling documented in their coronial file’,1 which explores the relationship between death by suicide and gambling in Ireland, was published in April 2025. It is the first study to explore this topic using coronial records in Ireland.

Context

Since the mid-1990s, the availability of gambling and gambling products (including online products) has increased dramatically. In turn, rates of gambling and problematic gambling have also increased. In Ireland, the estimate of adults with problematic gambling behaviours is 3.3%, with a further 7.1% having ‘multiple problematic gambling experiences’ (p. 2).2 

The Examining the overprescribing of Benzodiazepines, z-drugs and Gabapentinoids in Ireland report was published by the Medical Council on 25 February 2025.1 The aim of the report was to outline key issues along with recommendations identified by the Overprescribing Working Group. 

Working Group

The Overprescribing Working Group (‘the Working Group’) was established in 2019 by then President of the Medical Council, Dr Rita Doyle. Initially, the remit was to review concerns about overprescribing benzodiazepines and associated complaints received by the Medical Council. Z-drugs and gabapentinoids were added later. The Working Group consisted of representatives from a range of stakeholders, including the Health Service Executive (HSE); Department of Health; Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI); Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP); Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI); Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA); Irish College of Psychiatry; and Faculty of Pain Medicine, College of Anesthesiologists of Ireland.1

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has developed a tool to assess a national prevention system based on the International standards on drug use prevention.1 Following a pilot of the tool (Review of Prevention Systems (RePS)) in Norway, the tool is now being applied to the Irish context. It will explore the range of prevention interventions in Ireland and the system underpinning them in relation to the international standards for effective practices in prevention.

Background

In February 2025, in the shadow of the Guinness brewery (part of Diageo), often synonymous with Dublin, a workshop event, ‘The other side of the coin’, was held in Rialto’s F2 Centre. The workshop, organised by the Canal Communities Local Drug and Alcohol Task Force, Irish Community Action on Alcohol Network (ICAAN), and the Health Service Executive (HSE), aimed to explore the challenges and strategies for building understanding of alcohol harm in communities where the alcohol industry has created a narrative of embodying virtue in the Dublin 8 area.

The National Psychiatric Inpatient Reporting System (NPIRS) annual report on the activities of Irish psychiatric units and hospitals 2023, published by the Health Research Board (HRB) Mental Health Information Systems Unit,1 shows that the rate of new admissions to inpatient care for alcohol disorders has remained stable.

A visiting committee is appointed to each Irish prison under the Prisons (Visiting Committees) Act, 1925 and the Prisons (Visiting Committees) Order, 1925. Members of the 12 visiting committees are appointed by the Minister for Justice for a term not exceeding 3 years. The function of prison visiting committees is to visit, at frequent intervals, the prison to which they are appointed and to hear any complaints that may be made to them by any prisoner. The committees report to the Minister for Justice regarding any abuses observed or found, and any repairs which they think are urgently needed. Prison visiting committee members have free access, either collectively or individually, to every part of the prison to which their committee is appointed. Information from prison visiting committee reports relating to drug use in prisons for 2022 is summarised below.1

The Ana Liffey Drug Project (ALDP) is a low-threshold, harm reduction project working with people who are actively using drugs and experiencing associated problems. ALDP has been offering harm reduction services to people in the north inner city area of Dublin since 1982, from premises at Middle Abbey Street. ALDP offers a wide variety of low-threshold, harm reduction services that provide pathways for drug users out of their current circumstances, including addiction and homelessness.

The Self-Harm Assessment and Data Analysis (SADA) Project was set up in Ireland in 2016 to provide robust information relating to the incidence and profile of self-harm within prison settings, as well as individual-specific and context-specific risk factors relating to self-harm. In addition, it examines patterns of repeat self-harm (both non-fatal and fatal). The Health Service Executive’s National Office for Suicide Prevention and the National Suicide Research Foundation assist the Irish Prison Service with data management, data analysis, and reporting. This article highlights findings from a report presenting data in the analysis of all episodes of self-harm across the Irish prison estate during the years 2020 and 2021.1