The National Family Support Network (NFSN)¹ is an autonomous self-help organisation that provides support to families and respects the experiences of families affected by substance misuse in a welcoming non-judgemental atmosphere. On Saturday, 1 February 2020, the NFSN held its 21st Annual Service of Commemoration and Hope in the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, Sean MacDermott Street, Dublin. This spiritual, multidenominational service is held in remembrance of loved ones lost to substance misuse and related causes and to publicly support and offer hope to families living with the devastation that substance misuse causes. Those in attendance included Ms Catherine Byrne TD, Minister of State at the Department of Health with responsibility for Health Promotion and the National Drugs Strategy; Comdt Caroline Burke, aide-de-camp to An Taoiseach; Mary Lou McDonald TD; Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin, and other religious representatives; as well as family members, friends, and many people working in the area of substance misuse. Music was provided by soprano Nickola Hendy and Cathal Holland.

In June 2019, the Minister of State for Higher Education, Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD, convened a meeting of stakeholders to review the issue of drug use in higher education. Part of the outcome from this meeting was the establishment of a Rapid Response Group (RRG) whose brief was to develop an action plan on the issue, consistent with national strategy. In February 2020, the Department of Education published the Framework for response to the use of illicit substances within higher education, which is based on the work of the RRG.^{1, 2}

Know the Score is a new Government resource for Senior Cycle teachers to support their delivery of the substance use module of the Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) programme.¹ By supporting teachers, the resource aims to guide and support students (aged 15–18 years) to ‘make conscious and informed decisions about alcohol and drugs’ (p. 4).¹ This complements the Health Service Executive (HSE) guide for parents on how to communicate with their children about alcohol and drugs published in August 2018.² The resource was launched by Minister for Health Simon Harris TD, Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh TD, and Minister of State for Health Promotion and the National Drugs Strategy Catherine Byrne TD on 27 November 2019.

Silent Voices is an initiative of Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI). As Ireland’s national charity for alcohol-related issues, AAI works in the areas of advocacy and policy change, aiming to reduce levels of alcohol harm in Ireland and improve public health, safety, and wellbeing. Silent Voices is focused on the impact of parental alcohol misuse (PAM) on children. It aims to ensure the right supports are available today to children coping with PAM – and those adults dealing with the impact of a childhood trauma in later life.¹

Methadone maintenance treatment is an addiction treatment provided to about 10,000 people in Ireland to improve their health and stability.¹ In a 2019 study published in the Irish Journal of Medical Science, O’Callaghan et al.² investigated how accurate and acceptable oral fluid testing is to methadone maintenance patients and doctors as a means of substance detection. Importantly, this was the first Irish study capturing patient views on their experience with methadone maintenance.

Methadone is the most commonly prescribed opioid substitution treatment in Ireland. A retrospective cohort study was carried out in all specialist addiction services in Dublin South West and Kildare looking at the risk of death associated with interruptions in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) for the years 2010–2015.¹

In December 2019, Four Forum Network (4Fora) and Dublin City Council published a report, Building community resilience: responding to criminal and anti-social behaviour networks across Dublin South Central.¹ 4Fora comprises four local policing fora in the Dublin South Central area, and the report  was carried out in collaboration with An Garda Síochána.