475. Deputy John Curran asked the Minister for Health the number of drug liaison midwives in place in each CHO area in each of the years 2015 to 2018 and to date in 2019, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53270/19]

Expanding addiction services for pregnant and post-natal women is an action in the national drugs strategy Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery. Key to this is expanding the role of drug and alcohol liaison midwives across all maternity networks.

There are three drug liaison midwives in community addiction services in CHO 6, 7 and 9 who work with the maternity hospitals in the Dublin region (Rotunda, Coombe Women and Infant University Hospital and The National Maternity Hospital).

Two drug and alcohol liaison midwife posts are currently being recruited in CHO 3 & 4 in conjunction with South South East and University of Limerick maternity networks. Funding was approved for 2 additional posts in CHO 1 & 8, as part of the Saolta (North West) and Midlands maternity networks in Budget 2020.

I am committed to ensuring there is national coverage of drug and alcohol liaison midwives across all the maternity networks.  To achieve this, I am seeking additional funding for two posts in CHO 2 & 5, to work with the Saolta and South South East maternity networks (with particular focus on Galway and Waterford).

Drug liaison midwives in each CHO area