Twenty twenty-two saw Ana Liffey Drug Project reach two major milestones – the 40th anniversary of the  organisation being founded in Dublin by Frank Brady and Mara de Lacy, and ten years since the launch in Limerick of Ana Liffey in the Midwest Region. Both are testament to the dedication and hard work of Ana Liffey’s team members
past and present, and the positive way in which service users have chosen to engage with them.

Service users were to the fore at our daylong events in Dublin and Limerick to mark these anniversaries, sharing their lived experiences and giving us invaluable feedback on our services and how they’re delivered. The language of ‘harm reduction’ as we now understand it didn’t exist in 1982, but Frank and Mara’s desire to help and work with people peer-to-peer, whilst innovating and expanding the organisation, remains at the heart of everything Ana Liffey does. With COVID-19 still a significant issue at the start of 2022, the majority of our work was conducted on an outreach basis, with team members going into Private Emergency Accommodation (PEA) and the likes of The Granby Clinic, where we liaised in situ with other agencies. Prior to the pandemic, Ana Liffey was renowned for its open access drop-in service whereas now the emphasis is on us working with service users in community settings.