A radical departure from Ireland’s approach to drug addiction

'I've broken a needle in my arm while injecting' - the drug users at the first Supervised Injection Facility

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Ireland’s first medically supervised injection facility opens in Dublin this week. Photograph: Thinkstock
Ireland’s first medically supervised injection facility opens in Dublin this week. Photograph: Thinkstock

A few days before Christmas, Ireland’s first medically supervised injection facility opened in Dublin, almost a decade after it was first proposed by Government.

The centre, which was first proposed in 2015, will initially run as an 18-month pilot at the Merchants Quay Ireland Riverbank location.

The debate around the facility has been fraught with objections, most notably from a nearby primary school which expressed serious concerns about the use of drugs in the area.

So, what are the arguments in favour of this centre, what are those against, and how will it affect the lives of drug users themselves?

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And, will this injection facility help tackle the wider crisis of drug use in Ireland?

Today, on In The News, a radical departure from Ireland’s approach to drug addiction – and the people who will use the state’s first safe injection centre.

Social affairs correspondent Kitty Holland joins the podcast.

Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Aideen Finnegan.

Sorcha Pollak

Sorcha Pollak

Sorcha Pollak is an Irish Times reporter specialising in immigration issues and cohost of the In the News podcast