Galway Bay fm newsroom - 130 children across the Saolta Western hospital group were treated in hospital for drug and alcohol-related illnesses last year.
According to freedom of information figures, 1026 were treated nationwide with over 63 per cent of these cases involving girls.
The Saolta group comprises seven public hospitals stretching from Galway, Mayo and Sligo to Letterkenny.
The new figures show the number of children who were treated in hospital for drug and alcohol-related illnesses in 2019.
The conditions include drug or alcohol poisoning, a mental disorder due to substance misuse, and new-born children affected by their mothers’ use of drugs or alcohol.
1,026 kids were treated for conditions such as these in hospital last year - down slightly from 1,101 in 2018.
A total of 762 were aged between 10 and 17 - with nearly twice as many girls as boys.
264 kids were aged less than nine years old.
Dr Ciara Martin is a consultant paediatrician with Children's Health Ireland - she's concerned at the number of teenagers presenting with alcohol issues.
The total number of kids treated for drugs and alcohol-related illnesses in hospital is spread throughout the country - but nearly a third were in children's hospitals.
