Debate contribution: Treatment and Recovery Centre in the North-west

Debate contribution by Mr Danny Donnelly on 4 March 2025.

MLA

Mr Danny Donnelly

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

4 March 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Treatment and Recovery Centre in the North-west

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4833378

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I thank the Opposition for tabling the motion. We in the Alliance Party are happy to support it. I will propose our amendment to the motion, seeking to improve what are already strong foundations. I will talk about our amendment before touching on the motion more widely. Our amendment adds an additional line to the motion, recognising that areas with greater levels of deprivation, including those in the north-west, have a disproportionate number of people exposed to adverse childhood experiences. That is associated with higher rates of excessive alcohol consumption and drug use in adulthood, as we heard. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) conducted research into the socio-demographic analysis of drug- and alcohol-specific deaths in Northern Ireland, which shows that there are five times more alcohol-specific deaths in the most deprived areas compared with the least deprived areas and more than twice as many drug-related deaths, again, as we heard from the proposer of the motion. Although Belfast has the highest age-standardised mortality rates given that it is the largest council area, Derry City and Strabane District Council is a close second, emphasising the extent of the problem in the north-west. Drug and alcohol addiction ruins lives and, sadly, is sometimes fatal. In 2023, sadly, we lost 356 people to alcohol-related deaths. The Derry City and Strabane District Council area had the second highest rate of alcohol deaths at 49 people, after only Belfast at 77. When adjusted for population, however, Derry City and Strabane of District Council has a higher rate of alcohol deaths at 28 per 100,000 people compared with 30 per 100,000 people in Belfast. Those numbers are very concerning, but it is essential to remember that they are not just numbers. They are individual lives lost, and they will be people's loved ones. The increase in substance abuse and addiction is very concerning across all of Northern Ireland, but especially in the north-west, where there has been historical deprivation and a lack of investment — a failure of previous Governments here over the last century. That is evident in so many respects, particularly for the city of Derry, given its inadequate transport routes, with only one railway line and no motorway and dual carriageway — it is the only city on the island of Ireland not to have such a connection — and the long-awaited but delayed upgrades to Magee university. We are seeing progress on some of those issues — for example, the investment in the north-west transport hub and the revitalisation of areas such as Ebrington — but it is unacceptable that inequalities continue, both in the north-west and in many areas outside greater Belfast. There is also the impact of adverse childhood experiences and the lasting impact that those can have on individuals for the rest of their life, as outlined in our amendment. In Northern Ireland, and especially in the north-west, that is often related to the history of the Troubles and the legacy of intergenerational trauma as a consequence of the 30-year conflict. Just last month, academics at Queen's University revealed the widespread impact of childhood trauma among Northern Ireland's adult population. The research indicates that 60% of our adult population reported at least one traumatic childhood event, with 30% of respondents reporting conflict-specific trauma. What is also very concerning is that, despite it being almost 27 years since the Good Friday Agreement, many young people here continue to experience trauma linked to paramilitary activity, especially in the north-west and more deprived areas. Linking that to the other part of our amendment, the levels of adverse childhood experiences and Troubles-related trauma are disproportionately concentrated in socio-economically disadvantaged communities. That emphasises the need for trauma-informed approaches to deal with drug and alcohol abuse across Northern Ireland. The growing number of drug-related deaths is extremely worrying. NISRA's 2024 report on drug-related and drug-misuse deaths indicates that there has been a 98% increase in drug-related deaths since 2012, the majority of which were individuals aged between 25 and 44. We must do what we can to prevent any further unnecessary deaths. One way to deal with the issue would be through the introduction of a new addiction treatment and recovery centre. Such a centre would be focused on individuals and focused on dealing with the harms of substance abuse. With support, people can turn their lives around, and we can help people through what are extremely challenging times. Having such a centre in the north-west would complement the many organisations in Derry that carry out important work to tackle addiction and support people. While Derry is not in my constituency, I have visited the city and met organisations such as ARC Fitness, which was founded by Gary Rutherford, a former nurse of the year who, following his own struggles with substance abuse, uses fitness to help people through addiction struggles; Northlands, which does invaluable work and has done so for decades, and Foyle Haven, which supports people in the homeless community. There are specific ways in which we can confront substance misuse, and I encourage the Department of Health to consider those. We need to move to a harm reduction model. One way to do that would be to introduce an overdose prevention centre, a safe and hygienic space where people can take drugs under professional supervision and under the watch of trained staff who have safe equipment that they can give out and who can respond to overdoses. Overdoses are medical emergencies, and, if treated in time, they can be reversed. They can be treated with naloxone, which has recently seen an expansion in its availability. There are 200 such centres across 17 countries, and there is detailed peer-reviewed evidence and research from those centres. The UK's first safer drug consumption facility recently opened in Glasgow. It gives people who use drugs the opportunity to do so in a calm, hygienic and supervised environment. The centre is called the Thistle, and it is run by the Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership. The centre is staffed by a multidisciplinary team made up of nurses, psychologists, harm reduction workers, social workers, medical staff and admin staff. The staff offer people safer injection techniques and provide harm reduction advice to minimise the risk of overdose and intervene with assistance if overdose occurs. It also gives the clients the opportunity to engage with healthcare and social workers on other issues that may be affecting them. Overdose prevention centres are prohibited by section 5 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, but, in Scotland, the Lord Advocate provided guidance for police that it was not in the public interest to prosecute someone for using an overdose prevention centre. In 2023, Belfast City Council voted to support a motion on setting up an overdose prevention centre in the city, and it had an encouraging debate on that important topic. Another option would be permitting the provision of drug-testing services in places where drug use is known to be prevalent, improving safety for people who could be vulnerable. That could include nightclubs or other locations where young people may be spiked or otherwise targeted by dangerous people on a night out. We must also consider the reform or replacement of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. It is outdated and clearly not working. It punishes vulnerable people rather than dealing with the root causes of drug abuse and substance misuse. We cannot deal with that issue, as it is reserved by Westminster, but we can engage with the new Labour Government and question their plans for tackling those issues on a UK-wide basis. We need a cross-departmental approach to truly deal with addiction and drug misuse. Other factors that contribute to addiction include poor mental health, poverty, inadequate or lack of housing, and problems with gaining employment. The Minister of Health cannot deal with all those issues. There must be cooperation with other Departments, such as Economy and Communities, to ensure long-term progress. I encourage each Department to adopt a cooperative approach so that we can deal with drug addiction in our society and ensure that we can focus on saving lives, reducing harm, rehabilitation and long-term recovery.

1,369 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:05 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification