Families struggling with addiction hit by lack of funding of successful support network

Sisters Jackie and Gwen McKenna run the Family Addiction Support Network based in Dundalk but operating all across the four counties of the North East — Louth, Meath, Cavan, and Monaghan. Picture: Moya Nolan

The author of a Government-ordered report into the gang and drug crisis in Drogheda has said he was “very disappointed” that a local project working with families hit by addiction and drug-related intimidation faces closure because of a funding crisis.

Vivian Geiran, whose report, Drogheda: Creating a Bridge to a Better Future, was published last March, said the Dundalk-based Family Addiction Support Network (FASN) was a “very impressive” group doing “hugely important work”.

The former director of the Probation Service was commissioned by the Department of Justice to conduct his examination after the brutal murder and dismemberment of 17-year-old Keane Mulready-Woods in the town in January 2020.

The Irish Examiner reported last Saturday that the FASN fears for its future because of what it says is a funding crisis.

Network awaiting cash it was promised

The network operates across the four counties of the North East — Louth, Meath, Cavan, and Monaghan.

FASN, founded over 20 years ago by sisters Jackie and Gwen McKenna, helped 250 families last year on annual funding of €7,500.

They are awaiting money from the €70,000 pledged by the Department of Health under Budget 2021 for family drug support in the North East, and say they are yet to receive funding as a result of the Department of Justice's Drogheda reports.

“We only have so much funding to last until June [2021],” said Jackie. “We said [to the HSE] that if there was no commitment to more funding by June, we were going to have to close.” 

Reacting, Mr Geiran said: “I would be very disappointed [if that happened]:  

I think with the modest level of additional funding required for the support network and the fact that announcements [on funding] have already been made, and the fact they are in such a dire straight and the problems they are dealing with are so serious, I just couldn’t condone it.

He said it was a “very impressive” group and that it wasn't just him who got this impression from them: 

“Other people were very high in their praise of them, a number of people involved in the addiction area referenced them as being very important in what they achieved and were achieving.” 

He added: “The intimidation I came across in Drogheda — and it's not just confined to Drogheda — it’s a dreadful, horrific problem. People don’t go public on it when they have that problem — that’s why FASN are so important.” 

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In a statement, the Department of Justice said funding applications under the Drogheda Implementation Plan, published last July, will be prioritised by departments and agencies. 

It said the department has identified some actions for early implementation which can be progressed.

“This includes providing funding to the Red Door project and engaging with the HSE on funding to the Family Addiction Network,” the statement said.