Fewer people are presenting with alcohol dependence, but more are entering treatment with harmful or hazardous use, according to the latest figures from the Health Research Board.<\/p>\n
Latest figures show 8,798 treatment cases for problem alcohol use in Ireland in 2025, representing a slight increase compared with 2024 (8,745).<\/p>\n
Almost one-third of cases reported using another drug along with alcohol last year. Cocaine remains the most common additional drug used alongside alcohol.<\/p>\n
In 2025, men accounted for six in ten cases with a median age of 42 years. Women had a median age of 44 years.<\/p>\n
Polydrug use<\/p>\n
In 2025, almost one in three cases reported using another drug along with alcohol which is in line with 2024 figures.<\/p>\n
The nine-year trend from 2017 to 2025 shows the proportion of cases reporting polydrug use increased from almost 20% in 2017 to 32% in 2025.<\/p>\n
The 2025 figures show cocaine (72%) was the most common additional drug used alongside alcohol, followed by cannabis (50%), benzodiazepines (17%), and opioids (10%).<\/p>\n
The proportion reporting cocaine as an additional drug increased from 42% in 2017 to 72% in 2025.<\/p>\n
Key trends over time (2017\u20132025)<\/p>\n
Overall, alcohol treatment demand has increased over the nine-year period, reaching its highest level in 2025 with 8,798 cases treated.<\/p>\n
The profile of alcohol use severity has shifted over time, with the proportion of cases classified as alcohol dependent decreasing from 72% in 2017 to 49% in 2025.<\/p>\n
However, there have been increases in both hazardous use (almost 10% to 16%) and harmful use (16% to 30%).<\/p>\n
Median alcohol consumption levels have decreased over time, while the proportion of cases consuming alcohol daily increased from 43% in 2017 to 58% in 2025.<\/p>\n
The treatment population has continued to age, with the median age increasing from 41 years in 2017 to 43 years in 2025.<\/p>\n
The proportion of males treated for alcohol as a main problem decreased from 65% in 2017 to 60% in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fewer people are presenting with alcohol dependence, but more are entering treatment with harmful or hazardous use, according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":["post-516071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}