Background

The tenth wave of the Healthy Ireland Survey, carried out by Ipsos and commissioned by the Department of Health, involves a representative sample from the general population aged 15 years and over to increase knowledge of the population’s health and health behaviours [1]. Telephone interviews took place with 7,556 respondents between October 2024 and April 2025. Along with questions about alcohol use, the survey examined general health, tobacco use, e-cigarette and nicotine pouches, sleep, menopause, contraceptive use, use of health services, and caring responsibilities. Questions about alcohol use are routinely asked in each wave of the Survey but in the 2025 Survey, additional questions were included to understand the public’s consumption of Zero percent (0.0%) alcohol products.

On 4 June 2025, the report Evaluation of Parents Under Pressure Programme in the Community: A Coolmine-Led Initiative was launched.¹ In attendance were staff from Coolmine Therapeutic Community (referred to as ‘Coolmine’ for the rest of this article), parents who had taken part in the Parents Under Pressure (PuP) programme, policy-makers, and other stakeholders. The evaluation is the work of a team from Coolmine. At the launch, the organisation’s Chief Executive, Pauline McKeown, described PuP as “core to Coolmine services”.

Introduction

Latest data from the National Drug-Related Deaths Index (NDRDI) show that there were 343 drug poisoning deaths in Ireland in 2022, representing an 8% decrease on 2021 figures.¹ The NDRDI bulletin presents data on deaths in 2022, with key trends for the period 2013–2022. It describes the number of deaths and mortality rates, as well as the circumstances of deaths, including poisoning drugs implicated, location, place, and context of deaths, and characteristics of the deceased. Trends must be interpreted in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health measures from March 2020.