The Correlation Network (Correlation–European Harm Reduction Network (C-EHRN)) published a report in 2023 entitled Critical partners: level and quality of civil society involvement in the field of drug policy.1 It explores the experiences of decision-makers and civil society from working together in the field of drug policy. Case studies were carried out in four countries – Finland, Greece, Hungary, and Ireland. This article focuses on the findings as they relate to the Irish context. Overall, they suggest a situation in which the mechanisms and structures are in place for meaningful partnership, but it does not always follow through to implementation.

The Harm Done: Community and Drugs in Dublin is a memoir by Dr Barry Cullen that is grounded in his career since the early 1980s in community work, social services (as a qualified social worker), and as a lecturer and researcher in third-level settings.1 In his introduction, Cullen says that this ‘personal narrative’ (p. 15) is aimed at those whose lives have been impacted by drugs and those who study, work, and write about drug issues, community work, and related policy areas. The book culminates in a call for major reforms to Ireland’s drug policies and for community development as an essential element of the country’s response to the drugs issue.

Background

Among schoolchildren and young adults aged 10–24 years, alcohol use was the second leading risk factor attributable to deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) globally in 2019. Alcohol use is common among adolescents in Ireland. By 17 years of age, four in five adolescents have consumed alcohol, and Irish adolescent girls are ranked third highest (boys fourth highest) for rates of heavy episodic drinking (HED) in a Lancet study examining 195 countries. The Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 has children at its core, as not only does it aim to reduce population-level alcohol use and related harms, but it also specifically aims to prevent and delay alcohol use among children. This is why Section 14 of the Act prohibits alcohol advertising within 200 metres of the perimeter of schools, playgrounds, and child service locations. However, not included in the legislation is signage or sponsored awnings, partitions, umbrellas, etc. with logos of alcohol products on premises selling alcohol (e.g. shops and pubs, etc.).

In April 2024, Colm Burke TD was appointed as the new Minister of State at the Department of Health with responsibility for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy.1 Minister Burke has been a TD serving Cork North-Central since 2020. Prior to that he was a Senator (2011-2020), a member of the European Parliament for the Ireland South constituency (2007-2009), and a member of Cork City Council (1999-2007). Among his first tasks as Minister will be to coordinate a response to the 36 recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use, which will be the subject of a forthcoming Oireachtas Joint Committee on Drugs Use.2