...Deputy Holly Cairns: Someone dies from a drug overdose in Ireland almost every day. Drug deaths in this country are almost three times the EU average. The Taoiseach has a big decision to make. The Government can keep on doing what we all know is not working - criminalising people who struggle with addiction, failing to fund the services that could help them and cramming people into overcrowded prisons where drug use is endemic - or it can be radical and brave. It can opt to change its policy approach so that it is evidence-based and health-led. It can address the underlying causes of drug addiction. It can save lives.

That is what the cross-party report from the Committee on Drugs Use has recommended today. The decision was unanimous. Its key recommendations are that the possession of drugs for personal use be decriminalised and that we introduce a comprehensive health-led approach to the use and misuse of drugs. The committee did not pull these recommendations out of thin air. It listened to a wide variety of experts, community groups, people with lived experience of drug use and recovery and families affected by addiction.

The committee also heard comprehensive evidence about other parts of the world where this approach has worked, such as Portugal, which decriminalised drugs 25 years ago and has seen a significant reduction in drug-related deaths with no increase in drug use. The committee also heard about places where decriminalisation was introduced but not done properly, such as Oregon, where drugs were decriminalised but there was no increase in resources for treatment. What is clear is that decriminalisation must be accompanied by increased investment in health services. It will not work in isolation. That is key to the committee's recommendations.

Treatment options for drug use are threadbare. This is especially true in prisons, which are dangerously overcrowded. It is estimated that 70% of people entering prison have an addiction or substance abuse problem. That is about 4,000 people. How many addiction nurses are employed in Irish prisons? Zero. This is not a health-led approach; it is killing people. It is, quite frankly, inhumane.

The Oireachtas gave the members of the drugs committee a job. They have done that work and issued a unanimous report with cross-party support. The national drugs strategy will be finalised next month. If the recommendations of the committee are not included, it will have little credibility. Will the Taoiseach ignore the report or will he make a commitment today that its recommendations will be included?

The Taoiseach: I welcome the final report of the joint committee. I have not had an opportunity to read it in its entirety. Senator Mary Fitzpatrick, who is a member of the committee, made a presentation to the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party last evening on the report's core recommendations. Fundamentally, over the past 20 years we have moved to a health-led approach in terms of drug addiction. It has not been a criminal response, in the main. Rather, it has been health-led, going back to the methadone clinics for heroin in an earlier era. The focus, generally speaking, has been a health-led one.

A significant number of cases present for treatment for problem drug use. In 2025, the figure was about 15,422, a 16% increase and a 73% increase in the annual number of cases entering treatment since the commencement of the current national drug strategy in 2017. Communities continue to experience harm because of drug use. In some areas, the level of harm in communities is acute. The increase in treatment numbers reflects increased investment. There has been a lot of investment. We can continue to increase the level of investment, but we also have to be rigorous. That is why the Oireachtas report is important. It is also important that investment sees a return. Cocaine was the most commonly treated main problem drug in 2025, accounting for 42% of all cases. There has been an increase in investment in treatment services as a result of that.

In terms of diversion, the Government had agreed to divert those found in possession of drugs for personal use to the health services, in line with the health-led approach. The Minister responsible for that has agreed that will commence on an administrative basis for the time being. Obviously, the Government will assess the Oireachtas report in terms of the broader issues, including the decriminalisation proposal. About €170 million was provided last year to the Department of Health and HSE for drugs services, an increase of about €54 million over the past seven or eight years. It is all about treating addiction and having more drug treatment services. We will continue to expand that side of the equation. There has been an increase in recurring funding and so on. Addiction treatment is extremely important and the education side is extremely important, as is the health-led approach.

Deputy Holly Cairns: The Taoiseach said the Government is taking a health-led approach to this issue. Respectfully, the Government is not taking a health-led approach. A citizens' assembly was established and issued its findings. A cross-party Oireachtas committee did the same. Both of them found that we need to change to a health-led approach. That includes decriminalisation among a range of other health-led approach methods.

From the Taoiseach's reply, I take it that he plans to continue with more of the same and he thinks we have a health-led approach. I really urge him to reconsider that. He highlighted that a lot of funding is going into different things. It costs a lot of money, too, to put people in prison. Crucially, the most important figure in all of this is the number of lives it is costing, which is equivalent to nearly one person every day in Ireland. It is hard to articulate the impact that has on those people's families and communities and on everything. The Taoiseach has an opportunity to do something that will save lives. I ask him again whether the recommendations in the report will be included in the drugs strategy next month.
The Taoiseach
 
The Government accepts and has accepted that possession of illicit drugs for personal use is fundamentally a public health issue and not just a matter for the criminal justice system. That has been the position for quite some time. The Government will shortly introduce a health referral scheme for those found to be in possession of illicit drugs for personal use. The report has just been published. As is necessary, both the Department of Health and the Department of justice will examine it. There are some 160 recommendations in it. The mental health dimension will be examined as well. We are going to give it very serious consideration.

However, having been a Minister in the Department of Health and having experience of dealing with this issue, I can say the approach has been predominantly health-led but that does not guarantee that consumption goes down. It does not actually quite guarantee it. There are different experiences in different jurisdictions. We need to examine the report and keep working on this. There is more than just one recommendation; there are 160 recommendations and we have to implement them all...

[Debate continues]

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Dáil Éireann debate. Questions on Policy or Legislation.

...Deputy Ivana Bacik: I welcome the report today from the Oireachtas committee, which has recommended decriminalisation of possession of drugs for personal use. I commend the work of the committee's members, including our Labour Party Deputy Marie Sherlock. This follows from the recommendations of the justice committee some years ago. I was a member of that committee, which also recommended decriminalisation and took, in particular, the Portuguese approach as a model. This is long-standing Labour Party policy led by our now MEP, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, who as a Minister of State some years ago, brought in facilities for injecting centres, which we have now seen put in place.

The evidence from around the world is increasingly clear. Prison is no place to treat the sick and criminalising addiction has not worked. The war on drugs has not worked. Addiction is a public health issue, not a criminal justice issue. The Labour Party brought forward a motion on decriminalisation of drug users in 2025 and the Government told us then to wait for the report. It has been launched today....