'It's just three beds' - Laois Senator pushes for detox beds at Portlaoise hospital

The campaign for the provision of detoxification beds at Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise has been presented to the Seanad by Laois Senator Maria McCormack. 

The Addiction, Recovery and Community (ARC) Project, a voluntary and community led initiative based in Laois which supports people impacted by addiction, has led the campaign for the provision of three dedicated detox beds in Portlaoise in recent months.

An online petition for the detox beds has gathered almost 600 signatures since it was launched by the ARC Project which was founded by David Delaney and Michelle Roberston in 2024.

Laois County Council has called on the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, to establish three medically supervised detox beds with seven-day access and clear pathways into addiction and recovery services following Councillor Marie Tuohy's request to the council back in November 2025 on behalf of the ARC Project.

Laois Senator Maria McCormack brought the issue to the Seanad on Tuesday, January 27.

Addressing the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Jennifer Murnane O'Connor, Senator McCormack emphasised: "This is a really, really urgent, important issue for Laois and Portlaoise. It's an issue that goes to the heart of patient safety, dignity and access to care."

As there are currently no designated detox beds at the hospital in Portlaoise, she said: "That means that when someone in the Midlands presents seeking help for serious alcohol or drug dependence, they are often left waiting in overcrowded emergency departments, or even worse, discharged into unsafe environments where withdrawal can be medically dangerous, and in some cases life threatening.

"This is not a policy gap on paper. It's something families have to live with in Laois everyday and all over Ireland. Loved ones finally reach a point where they can ask for help, often at a great personal cost, only to find out that the system cannot safely respond at a critical moment."

Senator McCormack added: "The ask here is modest, it's just three beds. Practical and achievable, but three detox bed would provide safe medical supervision during withdrawal, reduce the pressure on already overstretched emergency departments, support families at a moment of acute crisis, and crucially create a real safe pathway into recovery rather than another dead end, and sometimes in cases suicide."

The Laois Senator asked Jennifer Murnane O'Connor TD what the plans are to address this issue. She also thanked her for accepting the invitation to visit the ARC Project in Portlaoise who are seeing the impacts of this problem first-hand. 

The Minister of State at the Department of Health told Senator McCormack that there are currently no proposals on addressing the issue but that she will speak to officials "to look at this and keep it under consideration."

She went on to explain that the Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise is a 'model three hospital' with 71 beds. Of the 22,000 cases of people being treated for drug and alcohol dependence in 2024, 20% were treated at model four services or residential settings which have specialised inpatient detoxification services.

The Minister added that 174 residential treatment detoxification beds are available nationally with a variety of service providers and access is based on needs. She said that someone from the Midlands region can access these residential services in any suitable location.

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She said: "The provision of the detoxification program occurs after a comprehensive medical assessment. So in some cases it may be appropriate to provide detoxification in the community setting, either through a doctor or HSE addiction clinic. But people who wish to access a detoxification service should make contact with their GP or local drug services to make a referral."

Senator McCormack pointed out, however, there are no residential services in Laois. 

In response to the point about the Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise being a model three hospital, Senator McCormack said she didn't realise that was part of the decision process on such facilities.

Although she argued: "We have so much there, but yet we can't provide for our most vulnerable people in our community dealing with addiction."

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme