On 15 November 2019, the 33rd British–Irish Council (BIC) summit was held in Dublin, part of which consisted of a ministerial meeting on health and social initiatives that relate to substance misuse. An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar hosted the summit at Farmleigh House in Dublin, with administration heads from Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, and the British Government.¹

The theme of the 2019 National Drugs Forum was ‘Inclusion Health: responding to complex health needs of people who use drugs’. Opening the forum, Minister of State with responsibility for Health Promotion and the National Drugs Strategy, Catherine Byrne TD, said:

There are people in our society who struggle with health problems but feel isolated and cannot access the help and support they need. Our shared goal must be to reach out and deliver better health outcomes for these people and, in particular, to make our health and social services more inclusive for those in addiction who may also have other complex needs.