The Ana Liffey Drug Project (ALDP) is a ‘low-threshold, harm reduction’ project working with people who are actively using drugs and experiencing associated problems. ALDP has been offering harm reduction services to people in the north inner-city area of Dublin since 1982, from premises at Middle Abbey Street. ALDP offers a wide variety of low-threshold, harm reduction services that provide pathways for people who use drugs out of their current circumstance, including addiction and homelessness.

The services offered in Dublin include:

• Open access
• Assertive outreach
• Needle and syringe programme
• Medical services
• Stabilisation group
• Detox group
• Harm reduction group
• Treatment options group
• Assessment for residential treatment
• Key working and case management
• Prison in-reach.

Midwest region

The ALDP Midwest region provides harm reduction services in Limerick city and three counties to people affected by problematic substance use, their families, and the wider community. The counties served are Limerick, Clare, and North Tipperary. The ALDP Online and Digital Services team also offers support and information to the general public and to people who use drugs, as well as to other agencies that work with people with problematic drug use. 

Annual report

The ALDP annual report for 2020 was published in 2021.1 The report noted that, in 2020, some 1,921 people accessing Dublin services received Covid-19-specific interventions. These included being provided with Covid-19 information, education, supplies, and transport to testing and isolation accommodation. Some 328 people living in private emergency accommodation received assessments and brief interventions, while 32 people residing in accommodation provided by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) received assessments and brief interventions. A further 198 people received case management, while 81 subjects accessed the ALDP needle and syringe programme.

In the Midwest region, 280 people received key working and psychosocial supports from ALDP in 2020. In addition, supported by the Health Service Executive and the Mid-Western Regional Drug and Alcohol Task Force, ALDP became the only provider of a needle-exchange programme in Limerick and much of the Midwest in 2020. Working throughout the year, during the three waves of Covid-19, ALDP met clients face-to-face, with 340 people accessing Midwest region needle-exchange services in 2020.
 

1 Ana Liffey Drug Project (2021) Ana Liffey Drug Project annual report 2020. Dublin: Ana Liffey Drug Project. https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/35046/