Self-help group calls on State to support drug bereavement service

A self-help group supporting families who have lost a loved one through illegal drugs or alcohol abuse has set up what is thought to be the first specialist bereavement service of its kind.

The National Family Support Network (NFSN) said it could not get State funding for the programme and was only able to go ahead thanks to funding for three years by the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin.