1. Soilse was represented on the Lord Mayor's Commission on Drugs (1997) which recommended a comprehensive care matrix and progression route as being the preferred option for those in addiction services.

2. Soilse piloted HYPER magazine which was evaluated externally (Donohue 2000).

3. Soilse was one of the projects evaluated as part of a joint project involving the former Eastern Health Board and the Arts Council which addressed arts and creativity in a health context (Finlay 2000). This influenced government policy on arts which was published in 2003.

4. Soilse's partnership with The Rutland Centre (combining rehabilitation and treatment) was evaluated by Dr. Mark Morgan in 2000 on behalf of the National Drug Strategy Team and mainstreamed as a Category A project.

5. Soilse has contributed to policy development (namely the Eastern Regional Committee on Rehabilitation, 1996). It was mentioned in government reports (1996) and in the review of rehabilitation models by McKeown (1998) as "being noted for its excellence". Soilse was represented on the Eastern Health Board Rehabilitation Blueprint (1999) and addressed the first EU-wide conference on addiction rehabilitation in 2000, representing Ireland.

6. Soilse contributed to the Bruce (2004) and Lawless (2006) reports. Bruce called for an integrated, holistic approach to rehabilitation which Lawless qualified as being secured through inter-agency collaboration. The Working Group on Rehabilitation (2007) endorsed inter-agency co-operation, calling for an interconnected service based on care planning, case management and inter-agency protocols.

7. Keane (2007) suggested the greatest individual barrier to work and progress was continued illicit drug use. He quoted Buchanan (2004) who said drug users were confined below a wall of exclusion marked by chaos and ambivalence and that drug services needed to be concerned with reorientation and reintegration.

8. 2008 - Soilse and the Health Research Board are involved in an exploratory study of the progression pathways to social inclusion for 50 recovering drug users. The aim is to examine the pathways to work, education and stable accommodation and determine which factors help people to achieve those levels of social inclusion.

Research

References