The largest voluntary drug counselling centre in the State has criticised the lack of Government targets to reduce hepatitis C and HIV infection among drug-users.
Mr Tony Geoghegan, of Merchants Quay Ireland, wants an "urgent rethink" of the seven-year National Drugs Strategy to include specific targets to reduce infection rates of up to 80 per cent.
Mr Geoghegan, the organisation's director of services, said up to 10,500 of Ireland's estimated 13,000 drug-users might be infected with hepatitis C.
"There is much to welcome in the National Drugs Strategy. Nonetheless the failure to take sufficient account of the increasing risk posed by hepatitis C and HIV infection is a glaring deficit and represents a missed opportunity," he said.
If the Government was committed to reducing harm to an absolute minimum, it should introduce a range of measures to minimise the risks associated with needle-sharing, accidental overdose and dangerous injecting techniques, he said.
"These measures should include greater access to clean injecting equipment, peer advice and training on how to avoid overdose and infection, and other services aimed at minimising drug-related harm."
The Government's National Drugs Strategy, announced in May, set out 100 actions, including measures to reduce drug supply, and increase substitution treatment places and needle-exchange facilities. In response to Mr Geoghegan's criticisms, a spokeswoman for the Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation, which is responsible for the strategy, said the achievement of these objectives should contribute to the reduced use of unclean needles, the most likely mode of transmission of hepatitis C and AIDS.
According to a report last year by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, between 60 and 80 per cent of Irish drug-users are infected with hepatitis C.
About 40 per cent of the 2,537 people identified as HIV positive in Ireland are drug-users.
Today Mr Geoghegan will introduce the annual report of Merchants Quay Ireland, which shows it provided needle-exchange services to 3,360 drug-users last year, including 645 new clients.
The report also shows that the number of homeless people using the project's Failtiu Resource Centre rose from 111 per day in 1999 to 176 in 2000.
Merchants Quay Ireland has opened a website, www.mqi.ie, to raise public awareness about drug use, homelessness and related issues.