Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann: recalls:

— the Labour Party Motion re Drugs Policy and Decriminalisation of the User, agreed by Dáil Éireann on 30th November, 2022;

— the report of the Citizens' Assembly on Drug Use, published in January 2024;

— the interim report of the Oireachtas Special Joint Committee on Drugs Use, published in October 2024; and

— the commitment in the Programme for Government to a health-led response for people found in possession of drugs for personal use, with diversion to health services, and the commitment to work collaboratively on any recommendations issued by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Drugs Use;

notes that:

— there has been little progress on achieving these objectives, while use of controlled drugs continues to rise;

— since the opening of Ireland's first medically supervised injecting centre in December 2024, nearly a decade after being first proposed and legislated for, there has been no further progress on the provision of safe consumption spaces;

— the use of cocaine has rapidly increased in Ireland, and Health Research Board (HRB) figures show it is now the most common drug treated, accounting for 40 per cent of all treatment cases in 2024, a 7 per cent increase on 2023, and a 250 per cent increase over seven years since 2017;

— the potency of drugs being sold for consumption is increasing, and new synthetic drugs continue to be introduced with unknown long-term health impacts; and

— the European Drug Report 2024: Trends and Developments, showed Ireland had the highest level of drug deaths in Europe in 2020, while HRB figures show 286 drug-induced deaths in Ireland in 2021, and 352 in 2020; and

calls on the Government to:

— designate the forthcoming National Drugs Strategy as an interim strategy, recognising that the final report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Drugs Use, mandated to respond to the Citizens' Assembly, is due in June 2026;

— establish a dedicated Cabinet Committee on Drugs Use, to prepare a whole-of-Government response to the policy and legislative changes that will be necessary following the final Committee report;

— swiftly move to develop additional fixed and mobile safer consumption spaces, including Mobile Overdose Prevention Centres in our main cities;

— as a matter of absolute urgency, implement a comprehensive health-led response to the possession of drugs for personal use;

— decriminalise the possession of drugs for personal use by repealing Section 3 of the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1977;

— commit to multi-annual funding for harm reduction services, and the resources necessary to support people who use drugs, in accessing health, social and recovery supports;

— ensure appropriate, meaningful, and sustained involvement of people with living and lived experience of drug use in the design, implementation, and evaluation of all drug-related policies and services; and

— ensure regulatory oversight of all drug treatment services, with a commitment to person-centred and evidence-informed support programmes.

Drugs mean different things to different people from the person who has a serious addiction to the recreational user to the families trying to support their teenager to the grandparents having to step in and to the communities suffering with dealing and drug-related and violent intimidation. While each of these groups may have a different perspective, I think all would agree that the current war on drugs has not worked.

As the Minister of State knows, drugs are in every community across this country. They are almost in every bar and sports club and even workplaces. Whether people like it or not, drugs are all around us. Some people get away with using them on a recreational basis whereas others do not, falling into spiral of vicious addiction that robs many of their basic dignity, their health, their family and, sometimes, their lives. The reality that trying to police our way to a drug-free world has not worked. This has been the experiment of the past 50 years here in Ireland and in most developed countries across the world.

This morning, I am proud to be introducing our Private Members' motion on behalf of the Labour Party. I welcome campaigners and advocates from a range of organisations to our Public Gallery. They have been at the coal face for many years, working with those in addiction and those who use drugs and dealing with the failures of our system that we currently have. For many years, the Labour Party has been campaigning for a radically different approach to drugs and to reducing harm in this country. I want to pay particular tribute to my colleague, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, for his pioneering campaigning on this-----

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