Dublin Marks International Overdose Awareness Day 2025

On August 25th, I welcomed community organisations, frontline workers and graduates of the HSE Circle Programme to the Mansion House for International Overdose Awareness Day 2025.

The Circle Programme is more than training — it’s a lifeline. Peers with lived experience are saving lives in their own communities, responding when every second counts.

I paid tribute to the wide partnership that makes this work possible: the HSE, Ana Liffey, Depaul, Bray Community Addiction Team, JAAD, UISCE, Cuan Dara, the Drug Treatment Centre, An Garda Síochána, the Ambulance Service, and most of all, the participants themselves.

Every naloxone kit distributed, every overdose reversed, every life saved — that is what we celebrate today.

Dublin is more than a capital city. It must always be a caring city — one that chooses compassion over stigma, dignity over indifference, and life over loss.

As Lord Mayor, I will continue to support initiatives like the Circle Programme that embody those values.

Congratulations and thank you to everyone involved — your work is saving lives.