TREE COMMEMORATES THE VICTIMS OF HEROIN

The children counted down from ten and erupted in cheers, trying fervently
to clap hands in woollen mittens that allowed only muffled thuds.

Above them, a Christmas tree 40-feet high had burst into light, its
brilliant bulbs glowing over carefully decorated branches.

Every twinkling star that hung there was tinged with sadness.

This year the tree at the junction of Buckingham Street and Killarney
Street in Dublin's north inner city bore 132 stars, twice the number when
it was first erected six years ago.

As in every other year that the local community has gathered at the
junction, once notorious for heroin-dealing, each star represented a child
of the neighbourhood lost to the deadly addiction.

Cousins, Emily and Elsie Black, both recalled their loss as they laid a
Christmas wreath on behalf of the bereaved.

Emily's 20-year-old son, Carl, died two years ago. "I found him dead in the
bed," she said, the memory bringing tears.

"I don't blame anyone. He got help but it just didn't work out for him."
Elsie had longer to mourn. She lost her brother Noel in 1984, when he was
24. "He was one of the first to die from heroin in this area. There was no
help then. You hadn't anything like this ceremony back then. We thought it
was about time something was done. This tree and this ceremony lets the
young kids now see the kind of devastation drugs causes."

Despite the sorrows the annual commemoration revives, the tree-lighting
ceremony, with its Garda Band performance and primary school choir, is
viewed positively.

"It has been a huge part of helping people to grieve openly and feel that
they are not alone in their pain," said Sadie Grace, of the Inner City
Organisations Network (ICON) which organises the ceremony with the help of
Dublin Corporation.

The pain goes on, however, according to ICON colleague, Paddy Malone.

"The number of stars goes up each year. The rate has slowed down and there
are fewer new heroin addicts. But there is a big concern around cocaine and
cannabis. It's a different culture now but not necessarily a better one."