A new report shows an increase in the growth of drug use outside of Dublin.

According the Merchants Quay annual review for last year, the Midlands Harm Reduction Outreach service worked with an average of 130 people per month-providing over 3,000 needle exchange interventions during the year.

In Dublin, the service recorded 20,847 client visits, showing an increase of almost 2,000 from 2011.

Cuts to health budgets in the area of addiction services are having a sharp impact on services and the Head of Dublin's Merchant's Quay says we must invest in fighting drug use if we want to fight the scourge of addiction on our streets. The organisation it alone has lost €750,000 in state funding since 2008.

There are only about 40 beds in detox services nationwide, ten of those beds are provided by Merchant's Quay, which is only part-funded by the government.

The Chief Executive of Merchants Quay Ireland, Tony Geoghegan, told Newstalk's Breakfast that if people who complain about the addiction on the streets of Dublin want to do something about it, money must be invested in services:

Meanwhile, Merchants Quay says it provided over 76,500 meals to the needy in 2012.

MQI says the statistics are very strong indications of the increasing levels of poverty and hardship being experienced by people across the country.