WATCH Ana Liffey marks Overdose Awareness Day and Recovery Month with launch of 2025 Annual Report

Ana Liffey marks Overdose Awareness Day and Recovery Month with launch of 2025 Annual Report. Picture: Olena Oleksienko/ilovelimerick

Ana Liffey have marked Overdose Awareness Day and Recovery Month with the launch of their 2025 Annual Report at Thomond Park

Ana Liffey celebrated Overdose Awareness Day and Recovery Month with the launch of their 2025 Annual Report at a special event held in Thomond Park Stadium on Monday, August 31.

The event marked Overdose Awareness Day on August 31, leading into Recovery Month, celebrated throughout all of September.

Housing needs and homelessness have overtaken substance use as the most common reason people seek support from Ana Liffey, reflecting Ireland’s deepening housing crisis.

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New figures from the charity show that housing-related issues accounted for 27.8% of all support needs in 2025, ahead of substance use and treatment at 23%, marking a shift in the challenges facing the 4,609 people that were supported by the organisation.

The figures were part of ‘The Ana Liffey 2025 Annual Report’, being launched today at Thomond Park, Limerick. The low-threshold, harm reduction charity has centres in Dublin, the Midwest and the North East of Ireland and operates a number of outreach programmes for people experiencing the profound impact of social harms.

Dawn Russell, CEO of the Ana Liffey, said 2025 has seen more than 4,500 individuals attending Ana Liffey for support, with many seeking support in homelessness.

She said, “ Last year, 4,609 individuals came to us for support, and over a quarter of those came to us seeking urgent support for homeless crisis. We also worked with over 2,000 people who needed addiction support, specifically safer injecting advice, overdose prevention advice, and community detox, where we work with the person and their doctor in the community to detox them off the drugs that they don’t want to use any longer.”

Ana Liffey have been providing addiction services in Limerick and across the Midwest since 2012, where the team work on outreach across Limerick to reach people who need their support.

The service supports people who experience serious challenges, including addiction, homelessness, mental health, domestic violence and criminality. Ana Liffey work with a low threshold, harm reduction ethos, meaning they are easy to access and meet people wherever they are at in their addiction.

Each year, August 31 marks International Overdose Awareness Day. In Ireland, approximately 350 people each year die from drug poisoning, and the majority of these cases are opioid overdoses. Ana Liffey has recently called on the Government to make naloxone more accessible to loved ones and community members who wish to carry it.

September is recovery month, and  Ana Liffey celebrated the achievements of their service users who are on their journey of recovery and have achieved significant goals in their lives, such as becoming substance-free, gaining employment and building new relationships. 

Speaking about both annual events, the Ana Liffey CEO added, “ We see a lot of recovery in the Ana Liffey. Our teams are full of recovery, both people who have used our services and we have now hired as case managers and people who are in recovery for many, many years.

“But we’ve also lost people last year and this year through overdose. Today is International Overdose Awareness Day, and we have grieved people together in the Analiffey this year and last year who died too soon from overdose.”

Homelessness surpasses demand for addiction support, says Ana Liffey

Annual Report launches on International Overdose Awareness Day

The report has also shown early successes through Ana Liffey’s partnership with Dublin’s Drug Treatment Court Programme, which is supported directly by the Department of Health and the HSE. Russell believes this model can work in different communities across Ireland.

“The programme is an important collaboration, which supports people away from criminality and towards their personal recovery,” said Russell.

“We developed the in-reach programme with the Dublin Drug Court service which was first delivered in September last year and received funding from the Department of Health in the 2026 budget.”

“We have seen many early successes, the enhanced work is already helping participants to achieve much better outcomes as we are there beside them, supporting them to succeed,” she said.

The courts programme complements the charity’s Law Engagement and Assisted Recovery (LEAR) programme which provides intensive, person-centred case management to people with complex needs related to addiction, criminality, homelessness and mental health. It currently runs successfully in Limerick and Dublin cities, in partnership with An Garda Síochána. In 2025, the charity rolled out its Good Neighbour outreach programme, delivering 651 pro-social and support interventions during the year.

Ana Liffey service user and RTÉ journalist, Brian O’Connell, spoke about the support Ana Liffey has given him. He told I Love Limerick, “ I’m somebody who’s in recovery, who has been quite public about the fact that I’m in recovery for about 22, 23 years now.

“I’ve worked with Analiffey in terms of journalism over the last 10 or 15 years, and I think what struck me about the annual report is obviously the rise in people experiencing homelessness who are engaging with their services, but also just the diverse range of people and the reasons why they’re accessing the Analiffey services. Everything from domestic violence, to people who have debt issues, to people obviously with homelessness issues, and then obviously the whole sphere and spectrum of addiction as well.”

Brian urged anybody seeking help with addiction to reach out to Ana Liffey, saying, “For anybody who might be experiencing any issues, the Ana Liffey are worth reaching out to.

“They do work in Dublin, and in Limerick they have a presence now as well, where, according to the annual report, they’re helping hundreds of people on an annual basis.”

Dawn Russell thanked all of their supporters, and also urged the public to reach out for support where it is needed, she said, “ All of the staff and board of Ana Liffey are extremely grateful to our funders and our supporters. And if you’d like to help us by making a donation, please visit our website and you’ll find a donation page there.

“We’re very grateful to the service users for coming and trusting us and accessing our support, and we’re extremely proud of the achievements in their lives. And if you do need our support or you’d like to refer a loved one, you can call us for free on 1800 786 828.”