Dr. Shane Butler
Fellow Emeritus, Sch Office - Social Work & Social Policy
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Butler, S., Coolmine Therapeutic Community, Dublin: a 40-year history of Ireland's first voluntary drug treatment service , Addiction , 111, (2), 2016, p197 - 203
Substance Misuse and Social Work in Ireland: Must Do Better? in, editor(s)Christie, A., Featherstone, B., Quin, S. and Walsh, T. , Social Work in Ireland: changes and continuities , London, Palgrave Macmillan , 2015, pp195 - 211, [S.Butler and H. Loughran]
Shane Butler, Ireland's Public Health (Alcohol) Bill: Policy Window or Political Sop? , Contemporary Drug Problems , 42, (2), 2015, p106 - 117
Butler, S. and Hope, A. , Ireland's financial crisis and its influence on alcohol and drug issues , Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 32, (6), 2015, p623 - 628
O'Leary, M. and Butler, S., Caring for Grandchildren in Kinship Care: What Difficuties Face Irish Grandparents with Drug-Dependent Children, Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions , 15, (4), 2015, p352 - 372
'A state of semi-lunacy'? The marginal status of drinking problems within the Irish mental health system in, editor(s)Agnes Higgins and Shari McDaid , Mental Health in Ireland: Policy, Practice and Law, Dublin, Gill and Macmillan , 2014, pp150 - 168, [Shane Butler ]
S. Butler , The symbolic politics of the Dublin drug court: The complexities of policy transfer , Drugs: education, prevention and policy , 20, (1), 2013, p5 - 14
Fagan, D. and Butler, S. , 'What Are We About?' The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association in Present-Day Ireland, Drugs: education, prevention & policy, 18, (4), 2011, p261 - 269
Ryall, G. and Butler, S., The great Irish head shop controversy, Drugs: education, prevention & policy, 18, (4), 2011, p303 - 311
Jordan, T. and Butler, S., The Globalization of Addiction: a study in the poverty of spirit , Drugs: education, prevention & policy, 18, (4), 2011, p270 - 275
Woods, M. and Butler, S., 'A Victim of Its Own Success: The Diploma in Addiction Studies at Trinity College Dublin , Drugs: education, prevention & policy, 18, (4), 2011, p243 - 250
Butler, S., Addiction Counsellors in the Republic of Ireland: exploring the emergence of a new profession, Drugs: education, prevention & policy, 18, (4), 2011, p295 - 302
Shane Butler, Benign Anarchy: Alcoholics Anonymous in Ireland, Dublin , Irish Academic Press, 2010
Hope, A. and Butler, S., Changes in consumption and harms, yet little policy progress, Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 27, (5), 2010, p479 - 495
Shane Butler, Obstacles to the Implementation of an Integrated National Alcohol Policy in Ireland: Nannies, Neo-Liberals and Joined-Up Government, Journal of Social Policy, 38, (2), 2009, p343 - 359
Ireland, Republic of, P. Korsmeyer and H.R. Kranzler, Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol and Addictive Behaviour, Third , Two , Macmillan Reference, 2009, pp322 - 325, [Shane Butler]
Butler, Shane, Rabbitte Revisited: the first report of the ministerial task force on measures to reduce the demand for drugs - ten years on, Administration, 55, (3), 2007, p125 - 144
Butler, Shane and Jordan, Tony, Alcoholics Anonymous in Ireland: AA's first European experience, Addiction, 102, (6), 2007, p879 - 886
Butler, Shane, Tipping the Balance? An Irish Perspective on Anderson and Baumberg, Drugs: education, prevention and policy, 13, 2006, p493 - 497
Mental Health Social Work in Ireland: Missed Opportunities in, editor(s)Noreen Kearney and Caroline Skehill , Social Work in Ireland: Historical Perspectives, Dublin, Institute of Public Administration, 2005, pp33 - 50, [Butler, Shane]
Shane Butler and Paula Mayock, 'An Irish Solution to an Irish Problem': Harm reduction and ambiguity in the drug policy of the Republic of Ireland, The International Journal of Drug Policy, 16, 2005, p415 - 422
Butler, S., Cocaine use in Europe - a multi-centre study: patterns of use in different groups, European Addiction Research, 10, 2004, p147 - 155
Butler, S., Looking at "wetter options, Cornerstone (Magazine of the Homeless Agency), 16, 2003, p7 - 8
Butler, S., Paying the price for extended opening hours: a comment from Ireland, Drugs: education, prevention and policy, 10, 2003, p293 - 296
Butler, S., Doing Drugs from an Ivory Tower: Reflections on Twenty Years of Addiction Studies at Trinity College Dublin, Studies, 2003, p249 - 257
Butler, S., Alcohol, Drugs and Health Promotion in Modern Ireland, Dublin, Institute of Public Administration, 2002, 255pp
A Tale of Two Sectors: a critical analysis of the proposal to establish drug courts in the Republic of Ireland in, editor(s)P. 0' Mahony , Criminal Justice in Ireland, Dublin, Institute of Public Administration, 2002, pp407 - 418, [Butler, S.]
Butler, S., Addiction problems, addiction services and social work in the Republic of Ireland, Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 2, 2002, p31 - 48
Butler, S., The making of the methadone protocol: the Irish system?, Drugs: education, prevention and policy, 2002, p311 - 324
Mental Health Social Work and Addictions in, editor(s)J. Campbell and R. Manktelow , Mental Health Social Work in Ireland: Comparative Issues in Policy and Practice, Aldershot, Ashgate Publishing, 1998, pp133 - 149, [Butler, S.]
Butler, S., The war on drugs: reports from the Irish front, Economic & Social Review, 28, 1998, p157 - 175
Butler, S., Substance misuse and the social work ethos, Journal of Substance Misuse, 1, 1996, p149 - 151
Butler, S., Child protection or professional self-preservation by the baby nurses? Public heatlh nurses and child protection in Ireland, Social Science and Medicine, 43, 1996, p303 - 314
Butler, S. and Corrigan, E., Outcome of treatment for Irish alcoholic women in treatment, Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 12, 1995, p48 - 52
Butler, S., Social work with alcohol and drug problems, Irish Social Worker, 1994, p4 - 5
Teaching by Stealth: social work education in Trinity College Dublin in, editor(s)L. Harrison , Substance Misuse: designing social work training, University of Hull. Central Council for the Education & Training of Social Workers, 1993, pp152 - 169, [Butler, S.]
Drugs, HIV and Ireland: responses to women in Dublin in, editor(s)N. Dorn, S. Henderson and N. South , AIDS: women, drugs and social care, Falmer Press, 1992, pp51 - 69, [Butler, S., Woods, M.]
Homeless young people and drug use in, editor(s)S. Kennedy , Streetwise: homelessness among the young in Ireland and abroad, Glendale Press, 1987, pp104 - 109, [Butler, S.]
Treatment services for alcohol and drug abusers in Ireland in, editor(s)P. Berwick and M. Burns , Future Directions in Health Policy, Council for Social Welfare, 1984, pp192 - 201, [Butler, S.]
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Butler, S., Promoting the welfare of children of problem drinkers, Childlinks, (3), 2009, p2 - 8
Butler, S., Alcohol consumption and its negative impact on Irish children and young people, Childlinks (The Jounal of Barnardo' Children's Resource Centre), 2003, p8 - 11
Butler, S., Alcohol Policy: a public health perspective, Proceedings of International Conference on Alcohol Policy, Dublin Castle, November, 2001, Health Promotion Unit, 2003, pp115 - 123
Butler, S., The national alcohol policy and the rhetoric of health promotion, Irish Social Worker, 2001, p4 - 7
Butler, S., Social Science and Medicine, 46, 1998, p1253-1254
Butler, S., Drinking problems amongst Irish Travellers, Irish Social Worker, 1996, p8 - 9
Butler, S., Youth and Policy, 54, 1996, p106-107
Butler, S., Health Service News, 8, 1995, p15
Butler, S., by Youth and Policy , 43, 1994, p109-111
Butler, S., Discourse and Society, 3, 1994, p517-519
Research Expertise
Description
My research interests to date have primarily been in relation to social policy on alcohol and drug issues. As already indicated, my concern has been to study the Irish policy context, albeit from a comparative international perspective. One of my persistent aims has been to look critically at the research I policy interface, particularly to identify how and why scientific research findings are use selectively by policy makers in their management of issues which involve conflicting value positions and entrenched commercial interests. In relation to illicit drugs, my research on Irish policy has highlighted the difficulties for national policy makers in introducing evidence based strategies where such strategies appear to be . in conflict with American-dominated international conventions, as well as being in conflict with local conventional wisdom on the necessity for a 'war on drugs'. In relation to alcohol, my research has been largely focused on similar issues, mainly relating to state reluctance to act upon research-based recommendations which smacks of paternalism (the 'nanny state') and which also creates conflict with a globalised drinks industry. This research is largely desk-based (or at least library-based), with some use of qualitative interviewing of key stakeholders, and my main scarce resource is time.Recognition
Representations
Member of accreditation panel of the National Social Work Qualifications Board.
Member of National Working Group on Alcohol Consumption in Higher Education.
Member of South - East Inner City Area Implementation Team of RAPID (Rejuvenation of Areas through Planning, Investment and Development) .
Member of the Board of Management of Coolmine Therapeutic Community
Member of the National Advisory Committee on Drugs
Awards and Honours
Fellow of Trinity College Dublin
Memberships
Member of the Working Group on a National Alcohol Policy (appointed by Minister for Health)
Member of interim and later fully constituted National Advisory Committee on Drugs (appointed by Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy) - resigned from this body on being appointed Community Liaison Officer for College
Member of National Group on Alcohol Consumption in Higher Education (nominated by Senior Lecturer as College representative on this national committee).