More than 4,200 overdoses were treated in hospitals in 2011, two thirds of them intentional, according to official figures.
Legal medications, such as paracetamol, psychotropic drugs, tranquillisers and sedatives, along with alcohol and illegal drugs, accounted for the bulk of substances used in overdoses.
Unpublished data from the Hospital In-Patient Enquiry (HIPE) scheme shows there were 4,254 overdose cases in 2011, with women accounting for 54% of incidents.
The number is down on 2010 (4,522) and significantly down on 2005 (5,012).
All the age groups experienced falls in cases in 2011, except the 45-54 and the 55-64 age groups.
The figures, contained in a report by the Health Research Board, show that 467 children aged under 14 experienced overdoses in 2011, along with 936 young people, aged between 15-24, the category with the highest number of cases.
Non-opioid analgesics, including pain killers, were present in 1,336 cases (31%), with paracetamol making up 806 of those.
Prescribed tranquillisers and anti-anxiety medication, known as benzodiazepines, accounted for 960 cases, with psychotropic agents making up 973 cases.
Alcohol was involved in 518 cases, but alcohol was only taken into account when it was used in conjunction with other substances.
Source: Cormac O'Keeffe, Irish Examiner, 11/11/13
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