This is the true story of the annual commemorative Christmas Tree that is erected and lit during the first week each December at the Buckingham Street/Killarney Street Junction In Dublin's North-Inner-City and its companion Home Monument, which stand side-by-side at this street junction where heroin dealers sold their drugs, unhindered to young people in one of the most deprived, impoverished slum districts in Europe.
The cost to the local community in 'lost lives' cannot be easily understood, but what happened here earned Dublin the title of SMACK CITY.
www.drugfreeworld.org &
www.drugs.ie &
www.drugscope.org.uk
The following text is exactly as it was delivered on the tenth anniversary of the lighting of the Christmas tree on Thursday 7 December 2006 by a survivor of drug addiction:
THE WAY THINGS WERE TEN YEARS AGO:
When the tree was first put up, it was a time of anger, isolation and loneliness for many people in our community. A shadow had descended on our area, a dark shade of drug dealing.
There were lots of deaths from drug-related causes.
Attending the funerals of our young people became normal. We began to accept the unacceptable.
People were going through the motion without the deep grieving that this tragedy requires. When people were grieving it was in private.
There was also a feeling of abandonment as people called out for state support, but none was forthcoming.
The open dealing and the deaths made people angry.
As one father of an addict said "While the pushers sleep on satin sheets, our young lie on cold marble slabs".
The only outlet people had for expressing their feelings was the mass meetings and protest marches (against the drug dealers) that took place back then. If this was was an outlet for public anger, there was none (outlet) for public grief.
WHAT OUR TREE REPRESENTS:
A number of people within the community talked about the need for such grief to be expressed and for all those who died to be remembered. We needed a symbol of hope.
The idea then emerged of putting a Christmas Tree in Buckingham Street, beside Saint Joseph's Mansions which had become a black spot for (drug) dealing.
The then (Dublin) City Manager was written to and the idea explained, he responded generously and embraced the idea.
It may be difficult to believe now, but there was a fear that the tree would be attacked or even pulled down. The anti-drugs people who were manning the hut, which was erected at this very corner (to stop dealers operating on the street) were asked to mind the tree 24 hours a day.
They agreed to do this, but the fears were needless as people took to the tree for what it was meant to be, a gift to brighten the dark days of winter and a symbol of hope.
In fact, it quickly became known as "The Tree Of Hope". The tree was and is many things to many people. It is the human caring face of our community, it was for
some the symbol of the ICON anti-drugs slogan 'addicts we care' - pushers beware', for others it was and is a symbol of a community taking responsibility and trying to heal itself from the pan it was suffering.
While the marches were a sign of anger directed at the (heroin) pushers, it quickly became that there were many addicted pushers who needed treatment and not humilitation.
There was not one family that was not affected by the drugs problem and the tree became a unifying image, where people could comfort, console and support each other.
For some people, it was a communal grave drawing people together in grief and hope, a public place for sharing the loss of loved ones. Fittingly, a Christmas Tree becomes the centre of warmth and family commemoration in the depths of winter.
In the warmth and protection of the tree, people told each other that it was okay to grieve.
People were reclaiming the child that they lost through addiction by being able to grieve together.
People put stars on the tree as symbols of the lost innocence of their children, these were our children, who once gave us so much happiness, when they first walked, when they first talked, when they showed us their first achievements in school.
These were the times when we shed tears of happiness and not grief.
People were asserting themselves by saying their children might have become chaotic through addiction, but they were victims of drug dealing and also years of state neglect.
Many people will argue that despite all the measures taken since, we are still playing catch-up.
In the past ten years we have come a long way, but the true extent of the deaths has not yet been accurately recorded.
This is why the City-Wide Family Support Network is taking part in a pilot project which will try to create an index of our drug-related deaths.
With the setting up of the Christmas tree, there was for the first time public recognition that addiction not only affected the addict but also the whole family, extended family and the whole community.
THEN CAME OUR MEMORIAL:
When the tree was taken down, people experienced a sense of isolation and emptiness, then an idea came about and relatives began speaking about the need for a permanent memorial.
The need for remembrance was very deep, so deep was this feeling that the relatives asked that a temporary memorial be erected.
It was a small timber block with a cut out for a night candle.
Although it was rather crude, it was a shrine to continue the spirit of the Christmas Tree.
This triggered the process of selecting a permanent memorial and after a consultation process between artist and the relatives a sculpture called 'HOME' by Leo Higgins was picked.
When the memorial was to be cast an invitation was sent throughout the community, open to anyone who wished to come along and bring something to remember their loved ones by.
All of the objects that the families brought to the ceremony were collected and placed into a ribboned box and placed in the cast.
These objects included first communion medals, photographs, letters, cigarette lighters and in one family case, they even placed their child's ashes inside.
As Bernie Howard, one of the key relatives involved in the process put it:
'It was very hard for me that day when I went over to Leo's foundry where the memorial was being put together.
We were told to bring something personal belonging to our children.
I brought a 'miracles' medal that my son Stephen wore around his neck and a small pillbox with other holy medals.
It was a very, very sad occasion. I just placed his belongings in a bag along with the personal effects of the other children being remembered. It all went into the melt, there wasn't a dry eye in the foundry that day.
When I pass by the memorial now, I look at the flame and I know a part of my son is in it'.
With the memorial's image of an open door and a welcoming flame, it captures what the tree symbolises for the community, a sense of hope, healing and yes, forgiveness.
It is a message from this community to those who suffer from addiction, saying that no how far you have descended into despair, there is always a way HOME and the warmth of your family and the community to give you support.
So here we are 10 years on with our Christmas Tree and Our Memorial side-by-side still giving our message to our children, that we love them and there is HOPE for recovery.
He had been due to retire next year, and will leave his post as soon as a new Secretary General is found.
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