Ireland’s Government has signalled it will not follow an Oireachtas committee’s call to end criminal penalties for personal drug possession. Senior figures in the Coalition said the change would not happen within the lifetime of the current administration, despite a unanimous cross-party recommendation.
The panel on drug use released its final report in late June, containing 161 recommendations aimed at shifting Ireland from a criminal to a health-led response. Its central proposal was that a person caught with a small amount of drugs should not face a criminal sanction, while the substances themselves remain illegal.
“We will not be doing this,” one senior figure said. The Fianna Fáil manifesto had pledged decriminalisation at the last general election, but the party clarified during the campaign that the promise was never meant to cover cocaine or heroin. Tánaiste Simon Harris is said to be strongly opposed, arguing that recreational users should understand they fund gangland crime.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan and Minister of State Jennifer Murnane O’Connor both urged caution, with Murnane O’Connor saying “no change is proposed to the Misuse of Drugs Act”.
Opposition parties pointed to the human cost. Labour’s Marie Sherlock said the war on drugs had failed and that addiction is tangled up with poverty and trauma. Her party, along with the Social Democrats, the Greens and Sinn Féin, welcomed the report and pressed the Government to implement it.
The committee looked to Portugal, where drugs were decriminalised 25 years ago and drug-related deaths fell. Supporters argue Ireland’s current approach is costly and ineffective, but the Government’s message has been clear: the law is not about to change.
Sources
- Dáil Éireann debate. Leaders' Questions [Policy]. – Drugs and Alcohol
- Government unlikely to pursue drug decriminalisation proposals – The Irish Times
