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Dr. Shane Butler

Fellow Emeritus (Sch Office - Social Work & Social Policy)

 sbutler@tcd.ie

 


Representations

Details Date
Member of accreditation panel of the National Social Work Qualifications Board. 1997 - 2000
Member of National Working Group on Alcohol Consumption in Higher Education. 2001 - 2005
Member of South - East Inner City Area Implementation Team of RAPID (Rejuvenation of Areas through Planning, Investment and Development) . 2002 - 2005
Member of the Board of Management of Coolmine Therapeutic Community 2006-2009
Member of the National Advisory Committee on Drugs 2000-2002

Memberships

Membership of Professional Institutions, Associations, Societies

Details Date From Date To
Member of the Working Group on a National Alcohol Policy (appointed by Minister for Health) 1991 1992
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 1999 2002
Member of National Group on Alcohol Consumption in Higher Education (nominated by Senior Lecturer as College representative on this national committee). 2001 Present
Butler, S., Coolmine Therapeutic Community, Dublin: a 40-year history of Ireland's first voluntary drug treatment service , Addiction , 111, (2), 2016, p197 - 203, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
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], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Shane Butler, Ireland's Public Health (Alcohol) Bill: Policy Window or Political Sop? , Contemporary Drug Problems , 42, (2), 2015, p106 - 117, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
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, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
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, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
'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 ], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
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, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
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, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
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, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
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, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
  

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Butler, S., Promoting the welfare of children of problem drinkers, Childlinks, (3), 2009, p2 - 8, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
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, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
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, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Butler, S., The national alcohol policy and the rhetoric of health promotion, Irish Social Worker, 2001, p4 - 7, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Butler, S., Social Science and Medicine, 46, 1998, p1253-1254 , Review, PUBLISHED
Butler, S., Drinking problems amongst Irish Travellers, Irish Social Worker, 1996, p8 - 9, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Butler, S., Youth and Policy, 54, 1996, p106-107 , Review, PUBLISHED
Butler, S., Health Service News, 8, 1995, p15 , Review, PUBLISHED
Butler, S., Discourse and Society, 3, 1994, p517-519 , Review, PUBLISHED
Butler, S., by Youth and Policy , 43, 1994, p109-111 , Review, PUBLISHED

  

Awards and Honours

Award Date
Fellow of Trinity College Dublin 2012

Research Interests

Description Of Research Interests

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.