Community networks left out of National Drugs Strategy steering group for first time in 30 years 

Citywide coordinator Anna Quigley said the three national community drug networks — Citywide, Uisce (comprising current and former drug users) and Family Addiction Recovery Ireland — are not on the steering group. File picture: Jim Berkeley

Community drug bodies have strongly criticised the department of health for excluding national community networks from the steering group tasked with devising the next drugs strategy.

Citywide Drugs Crisis Campaign said it is the first time in 30 years that community representative bodies had been left out.

Citywide coordinator Anna Quigley said the three national community drug networks — Citywide, Uisce (comprising current and former drug users) and Family Addiction Recovery Ireland — are not on the steering group.

The department of health set up the steering group a month ago. Its terms of reference state: “The steering group will provide a forum in which key stakeholder representatives from government, civil society, and persons with lived experience can collaborate to prepare and recommend the vision of a whole of society approach to prevent and mitigate illicit drug use and its impact on individuals, their families and communities."

Speaking at the inaugural Fergus McCabe Memorial Summer School at TUD, Ms Quigley said: “A month ago, the Drugs Policy Unit in the department of health set up a National Steering Group to develop the next National Drugs Strategy and inexplicably — and for the first time in 30 years  there is no representation from the national community networks on that steering group.

As we pay tribute to the powerful legacy of our friend and colleague Fergus McCabe — who was the first community network representative appointed to the National Drugs Strategy Team — we are calling for this unacceptable decision to be immediately reversed.

A video message from Taoiseach Micheál Martin to the meeting said: “The community development approach is so vital as it focuses on listening to the community members themselves — supporting them to identify their own unique challenges and working to address them. 

"The work of Citywide and others like you is absolutely critical in terms of developing long-lasting supports and resilience in communities dealing with substance and drugs issues.” 

Ms Quigley said the Taoiseach’s position is in “stark contrast” to the department of health's.

In the steering group for the 2017-2025 drugs strategy, the three community drug networks had four representatives.

In a statement, the Department of Health said: "The Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy, Jennifer Murnane O’Connor, established a steering group to provide oversight and guidance to the development of the successor National Drugs Strategy (NDS). 

"The group is overseeing the drafting of a successor national drugs strategy, as well as a two-year action plan to support its delivery, for completion by December 2025...

"The community networks referred to – Citywide, UISCE and Family Addiction Recovery Ireland – are respected stakeholders of the National Drugs Strategy. They and other civil society organisations were part of the independent evaluation of the current strategy and were also involved in the consultations on the content of the successor strategy."