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Eight Limerick men walk to Ballybunion in aid of Saoirse Addiction Treatment Centre

Saoirse Addiction Treatment Centre staff pictured at the opening of the centre in 2012. Picture: Richard Lynch/ilovelimerick

Eight Limerick men walk to Ballybunion in aid of Saoirse Addiction Treatment Centre

Eight Limerick Men intend to walk from Limerick city to Ballybunion this Saturday, July 25 to raise money for charity. Derek Byrnes, Paddy O’Callaghan, Anthony Hoare, Brian O’Donovan, Nigel McGuane, Aaron Noonan, John Healy and Jonathan Power will make the 95km journey, starting in Limerick and finishing in Ballybunion to raise some much needed funds for Saoirse addiction treatment centre in Limerick.

Saoirse are a non profit organisation who provide a valuable service to people who are trying to overcome drug and alcohol misuse free of charge. The centre, like a lot of organisations around the city and county, lost out on a major source of funding due to the cancellation of the Great Limerick Run so the group decided to see if they could help out by walking to Ballybunion.


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One of the organisers of the walk Jonathan Power said, “So myself and a few of the lads decided to do this 95k walk just as a challenge, don’t ask me why! We are going to attempt walking from Limerick to Ballybunion in under 14hrs! It’s next week so not much notice unfortunately but we’ve decided we are going to try to raise some money for Saoirse Addiction Center, a few of us know from experience what amazing things these people do and we would like to give just a little something back. If you can please help us raise as much as possible in this short time. It’s massively appreciated. Wish us luck!”

Saoirse Addiction Treatment Centre was founded in 2012 and is a specialist provider of addiction counseling and programmes. It is the only free non residential day unit in Limerick City/County and probably the greater Munster area. 

The Saoirse Addiction Treatment Centre philosophy is harm reduction and abstinence and the ultimate goal for any client is to become substance free and maintain an abstinence lifestyle with the help and support of Saoirse and other identified resources.

Saoirse Addiction Treatment Centre currently offers the following free services and support as part of the overall service provision: Initial Addiction Treatment Program (Harm Reduction), Recovery Programme (Abstinence), 1:1 Addiction Counselling, Group Therapy , Family / Concerned Persons Programme and Counselling , Women and Men’s Programmes, Aftercare Programmes, Counselling on an Outreach Basis, Case / Conference Management, Referral services for individuals impacted by substance use and gambling, Working with Comorbid issues , Relapse Prevention

Saoirse is fortunate to have a clinical leadership team comprised of seasoned professionals and counselors dedicated to providing the highest quality of service and improving evidential outcomes. 

Saoirse is a charity supported by a variety of organisations, including Statutory and Non Statutory. 

Saoirse continually relies on donations and the generosity of the public to support their work and provide the services they supply to their clients.

The centre is located at 18B Davis Street Limerick in a 2,200 sq ft premises with full facilities to operate such a centre. Saoirse offers a range of interventions including a Pre-Treatment Programme based on the principles of Harm Reduction; a non residential Day Programme based on the principles of abstinence and a clinically based family programme for family members and concerned persons in addition to 1:1 counseling. If you have any queries related to the centre or if you want to contact Saoirse on 085 8184590.

To donate for the walk visit the GoFund me page here.

For more stories on Saoirse Addiction Treatment Centre, go here. 

For more info on Saoirse go here

Richard is a presenter, producer, songwriter and actor. He was named the Limerick Person of the Year (2011) and won an online award at the Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards (2011) for promoting multi-culturalism online. Richard says that the ilovelimerick.com concept is very much a community driven project that aims to document life in Limerick. So, that in 20 years time people can look back and remember the events that were making the headlines.