In December 2015, the founders of Castle Craig Hospital took a significant step in making high-quality alcohol and drug addiction treatment centres in Ireland & the UK more accessible. They opened Smarmore Castle Private Clinic in County Louth, Republic of Ireland, bringing Castle Craig’s internationally regarded model of care to a new home on the island of Ireland.
How Smarmore Castle came to be
Smarmore Castle is a renovated country house with a 14th-century tower, set within 15 acres of grounds about 45 minutes’ drive from Dublin. From the beginning, it was designed to offer something Ireland lacked which was integrated residential addiction treatment and detoxification, delivered in an environment that felt restorative rather than institutional.
Peter McCann, co-founder of both Castle Craig and Smarmore Castle, explained the thinking at the time:
“People suffering from addictions are often offered residential rehab as a treatment of last resort, after years of failed treatment in the community. Long-term drug and alcohol misuse takes a serious toll on a patient’s body and brain, and it makes recovery a lot harder to achieve. We hoped that by establishing this new clinic, we could help more people access the highest quality treatment possible, as early as possible.”
What the clinic offered from the outset
Smarmore Castle opened with 22 beds, a large leisure and fitness centre, and a full clinical team including a Consultant Psychiatrist, an addiction specialist GP, and a clinical psychologist serving as clinic manager.
Treatment followed the same model that Castle Craig had developed and refined over 30 years suhch as comprehensive medical and psychiatric assessment, medically supervised detoxification, and specialist therapies including 12 Step facilitation and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). At the time of opening, an independent outcomes study of Castle Craig patients found that 73% had remained abstinent, while 92% showed overall improvement.
The clinic was also established to help patients from Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales access funded residential treatment under the EU Cross-Border Healthcare Directive, offering a route to high-quality care without lengthy NHS waiting lists.
Smarmore Castle today
Nearly a decade on, Smarmore Castle continues to operate as one of Ireland’s leading private residential rehab clinics, built on the same clinical foundations that have made Castle Craig one of the most trusted names in addiction treatment for over 35 years.
If you or someone you care about is looking for alcohol or drug addiction treatment in Ireland, the staff at Smarmore Castle are available to guide and support.
