The limited range of drug treatment services available for young people has been criticised since the death of Kim O'Donovan, the 15-year-old girl who died from a suspected overdose in Dublin.
Critics say there are gaps in the services, with most drug treatment facilities geared towards adults rather than teenagers.
Health boards across the State differ in the level of services provided for this younger age group.
Two in particular, the North Western and Western Health Boards, have said alcohol is the major form of addiction in their areas, and while addiction counsellors and youth support workers are available to help teenagers and design rehabilitation programmes to meet their individual needs, there are no dedicated residential treatment centres available.
The Midland Health Board said "hard drugs" were not a significant problem in its region among under-16s.
If any children in this age group sought help, they would be referred to other health board areas where there were dedicated services to meet their needs, a spokesman said.
A number of other health boards do have treatment centres for teenagers who become addicted to drugs, including the South Eastern Health Board which offers a residential rehabilitation programme for under-18s.
The Aislinn Centre in Ballyraggett, Co Kilkenny, has 12 places for boys and girls addicted to illegal drugs, alcohol and gambling.
A health board spokesman said the centre offered a six-week residential treatment programme, incorporating regular visits from the child's parents, followed by a two-year after-care programme on an outpatient basis.
It provides services for counties in the SEHB area as well as neighbouring health board areas.
The Southern Health Board is one of those using the Aislinn Centre. The board also has a number of centres in its own area providing individual and group therapy sessions for adults and adolescents with drug addictions. They are located at St Finbarr's Hospital, Cork; Castleisland, Co Kerry; and at health board centres in Tralee.
Most of the dedicated services for teenagers with drug problems are in the eastern region, where one-third of the State's population live and where the problem of addiction to hard drugs among younger age groups is greatest.
The boards have a number of specially dedicated services for teenagers. These include Fortune House, Ballyfermot, which provides 18 residential places for detoxification and treatment; the Crinian youth project in the north inner city, which has 25 places specially tailored for young people abusing drugs; the Soilse project in the north inner city providing rehabilitation; and the COLT project in Ballyfermot which is run in partnership with the Garda and encourages young people to busy themselves caring for horses.
In the north-east the local health board has both prevention and intervention programmes in place for teenagers who may be experimenting with or misusing drugs.
It has a number of outreach workers who provide education, training and information to young people and a health promotion schools project. It also has counselling services for those with addiction problems and refers those needing residential treatment to centres in Dublin and Kilkenny.