At the weekend, almost 50 people overdosed on contaminated heroin. Traces of synthetic opioid were found in samples of the heroin they took. Thankfully, no one has died as a result of the overdoses because of interventions made using a drug called naloxone, which is welcome. There are issues with naloxone, which is a prescribed drug. Experts in the field say it should be more available in the context of treating overdoses.

There is another worrying trend, which the House and society should be made aware of. There could be supply issues relating to heroin coming from Afghanistan. If that is the case - it has been seen in the United States - synthetic opioids will replace heroin and that will lead to hundreds of people dying. What is the State doing as regards overdoses, the issues relating to heroin coming out of Afghanistan and the possibility of opioids engulfing Ireland as a result?

I thank the Deputy for the question. He is correct that there have been more than 50 overdoses in the Dublin area since Thursday of last week. They were associated with the use of heroin that was adulterated with nitazines, which are potent, synthetic opioids. Naloxone is distributed by the HSE. I commend the members of the HSE in the Dublin region who are on the front line, such as outreach workers, ensuring the message regarding this toxic drug gets out. People are being assisted by hospital emergency departments and Dublin Fire Brigade. There was a swift response to what happened.

On the Deputy's other query about other substances coming in, the HSE is acutely aware of the dangers of new drugs. We have a range of methods, including working with our EU partners around emerging drug trends and with emergency departments here on syringe analysis and wastewater treatment analysis in the context of drugs coming in. The Deputy is correct about the roll-out of naloxone. There is a budget of €114 million for the HSE and the Department to deal with the matter of drugs. I will be working on that.