‘Solutions to addiction lie with the community’

The community is living through the negative consequences of drug use, so “solutions lie within communities”.

This is according to Noreen Byrne, a community representative with Clondalkin Drug and Alcohol Task Force (CDAT).

Noreen lives in North Clondalkin and has been involved in community projects for decades.

“For 30 years I have worked in community projects across Dublin city and parts of Dublin county involving addiction studies, training people who want to work in that sector,” said Noreen.

CDAT itself runs an addiction services course.

“From that we got the Community Reps forum back up and running. Along with support from the Prevention Officer and the Rehabilitation Training Officer, we pulled a group together from a number of addiction studies courses,” said Noreen.

While the community reps group began in an informal way in 2019, in 2021 the group took a more formal approach.

“About three years ago we knuckled down, the film project started three years ago,” said Noreen.

Community development is a key component of the work of the community representatives. “The Taskforce works from the community development perspective, that’s where the community reps come in,” said Noreen.

The North Clondalkin represent-ative explained how working as a community representative can be transformative.

“More knowledge and skills move you into the political sphere, in the sense of the broader community aspect, ‘what can I do to be part of change in my community?’, building knowledge and understanding to support people in recovery, knowing and understanding the causes for addiction,” said Noreen.