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For the first time, housing and homelessness has surpassed substance use as the primary reason people sought help from Irish charity Ana Liffey in 2025, according to the organisation's annual report. Housing accounted for 28 percent of service users while substance use and treatment accounted for 23 percent. The report highlights a shift in challenges faced by the 4,609 individuals who contacted the charity, including social welfare, training, physical health, legal issues and mental health concerns. Chief executive Dawn Russell, appointed last year after Tony Duffin's resignation, said the sense that people are only one pay cheque away from homelessness strongly resonates. Founded in 1982 in Dublin city centre, Ana Liffey has expanded its focus beyond addiction to include housing, domestic violence and welfare support.
‘The sense that we are all only one pay cheque away from the risk of homelessness really resonates,’ charity’s chief executive says Dawn Russell was appointed chief executive of Ana Liffey last year upon the resignation of Tony Duffin.
Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Timesovertook drug use as the most common reason people sought help last year from Ana Liffey, a charity best known for its work in the area of addiction support. The organisation’s 2025 annual report, published on Monday, shows substance use/treatment was the “primary reason” for which 23 per cent of its service users sought help last year.
Ana Liffey said housing/homelessness was, for the first time, the primary reason for a higher proportion of contacts, with the issue accounting for 28 per cent of its service users last year. Other needs included social and welfare support ; training and education ; physical health ; legal/criminal justice issues ; harm reduction supplies and mental health issues .
Why am I being charged PRSI when I am on the State pension? The change reflects the “shift in the challenges” facing the 4,609 individuals who sought the organisation’s support, the report says. Founded in 1982 on Dublin’s Middle Abbey Street as the Ana Liffey Drug Project, the charity’s sole aim then was to support and advocate for people affected by drug harms who were mainly in Dublin city centre.
Now named Ana Liffey, it is working across the Dublin region, the northeast and in Limerick, mainly with people affected by addiction but also in areas beyond substance use, including housing, domestic violence and welfare supports. Dawn Russell was appointed chief executive last year upon the resignation of Tony Duffin after almost 20 years in the post.
The report says: “In 2025, Ana Liffey faced the challenge of recruiting a new CEO following the resignation of the previous CEO, who had served for 19 years.
“The Board faced the challenge of recruiting the right candidate in a transparent and timely manner, ensuring the safe, effective and dynamic operations of the organisation could continue without interruption. ” Russell said that while there was often a crossover between addiction and homelessness, many people Ana Liffey supported last year were not in addiction and just struggling to find somewhere to live.
“It’s not always the case that homeless people are using substances. Neither is it the case that all of our clients using substances are homeless. These social harms can impact lives all across Ireland, regardless of background or other factors,” she said.
“Our goal as a harm reduction charity is to meet people where they are at and support them from harm to hope, whatever that means for them in their own circumstances. ” Increased economic pressures were “undoubtedly” the reason for “some of the people we see ending up in homelessness”, Russell said.
“The sense that we are all only one pay cheque away from the risk of homelessness really resonates at the moment. ” The charity is also working with younger people who have become homeless after leaving State care and women who become homeless after fleeing domestic violence.
“As I look ahead, I can see new challenges on our path. Increasing domestic violence, increasing homelessness, new and potent street drugs and a notable rise in stigma towards those who society has let down,” said Russell. Actor Olwen Fouéré: ‘I firmly believe we are in the last days of the Anthropocene’ A Wicklow woman in Marbella: ‘I would make friends in the summer and they would then go home.
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Ana Liffey Homelessness Housing Crisis Addiction Support Ireland Annual Report Charity
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