NASH IMPLORES HSE TO HIKE FUNDING FOR DRUGS SERVICES IN DROGHEDA
18 December 2018
Senator Ged Nash today (Tuesday, 18th December) met with senior HSE figures in Leinster House to appeal for an increase in funding and staff for drug addiction services in Drogheda.
Speaking after the meeting, the Labour Senator said;
“Problem drug use in Drogheda is in evidence all around us. It is destroying lives and communities yet the key service working on the frontline (the Red Door project) is starved of core State funding and has nowhere near the staffing complement.
“I told senior HSE management ahead of their consideration of the executive’s service plan for next year that the Red Door needs at least two outreach staff and to be able to continue the needle exchange programme in the interests of public health.
“The only year in recent times that the service received an increase in funding was in 2015 when I assisted the organisation with once-off National Lottery grant during my brief spell in government.
“This is an organisation that saves and transforms lives. The government and the HSE should value it and fund it accordingly. Lives and our community depends on it.”
Ends.