On 2 July 2020, Frank Feighan TD for Sligo-Leitrim was appointed Minister of State for Public Health, Well Being and National Drugs Strategy. This follows on from the publication of Programme for Government: our shared future.¹ The new Programme for Government commits to taking a health-led approach to drugs misuse and continuing to deliver on the existing national drugs strategy (NDS), Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery (2017–2025).²

We were very saddened to learn of the recent death of Fergus McCabe.  Fergus was a brilliant organiser, advocate and campaigner and brought a deep knowledge of drugs issues to all his work.  He made valuable and incisive contributions to successive drugs strategies.  He was also an avid reader and champion of Drugnet Ireland. We are grateful to his friend and colleague, Anna Quigley, Co-ordinator, Citywide Drugs Crisis campaign for the short tribute below.

In December 2019, Minister Katherine Zappone launched the Evaluation of the Bail Supervision Scheme (BSS) for Children report.¹ The evaluation, commissioned by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA), was carried out by the Research Evidence into Policy Programmes and Practice (REPPP) team from the School of Law in the University of Limerick. The overall aim of the evaluation was to examine behavioural change outcomes and processes that contributed to those outcomes between May 2017 and June 2018. DCYA commissioned the social justice charity Extern to deliver the ‘pilot’ BSS intervention to children deemed at high risk of being detained in a prison in Dublin (p. 9).

In July 2020, the Ana Liffey Drug Project published a report on the proceedings of the Policing in Changing Policy Environments event, held at Dublin Castle in June 2019.¹ Forty national and international experts came together with the aim of sharing knowledge and understanding as well as exploring challenges and experiences in the areas of law enforcement and public health. The Chatham House Rule was applied to the event and to the final report. The event consisted of two sessions: the morning focused on providing information (presentations and discussions), while the afternoon involved interaction (plenary sessions and facilitated working groups).

A new national mental health policy was published in June, Sharing the Vision: a mental health policy for everyone.¹ It succeeds A Vision for Change (AVFC), which has guided policy in the area since 2006. Sharing the Vision is described as a ‘refreshed policy’ in the foreword to the document by Minister for Mental Health and Older People Jim Daly TD. It carries forward elements of AVFC deemed to be of ongoing relevance but also includes many new elements based on the findings of a process of research and consultation underway since 2017. The new policy is described as being one that ‘focuses very strongly on developing a broad-based, whole-system mental health policy for all of the population that aligns closely with the main provisions of Sláintecare’ (p. 13).

Effective monitoring and reliable data are essential for economic and health planning and for supporting an informed and politically active citizenry. The constant updates on the impact of the Covid pandemic help us to keep informed, but they can also be wearying, and their contribution to our knowledge depends on our capacity to absorb difficult information.