An Irish parliamentary committee recommends decriminalising possession

An Irish parliamentary committee made a direct recommendation in June 2026: possession of any drug for personal use should cease to be a crime. Its report is politically significant, but it is not law.

The central recommendation

The Oireachtas committee on drugs use produced 161 proposals. At their centre is a call to repeal Section 3 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977, ending criminalisation of personal possession and replacing it with a health-led response.

The recommendation covers all drugs, not cannabis alone. Committee chair Gary Gannon said the members concluded that criminalising people for their own use had not reduced harm. The report followed the work of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use and emerged from a cross-party process.

The committee also recommended greater access to addiction treatment, wider use of supervised injecting facilities, over-the-counter naloxone and alternatives to short prison sentences for non-violent offenders.

Public use would remain a question

The report did not ignore concerns about visible consumption. It noted that some places which decriminalised possession later reported more public drug use. The committee therefore recommended giving local authorities powers to discourage it through by-laws comparable to rules on drinking alcohol in public.

That distinction is important. Removing criminal penalties for private possession does not necessarily mean accepting consumption in streets, parks or other public places.

What happens next

An Oireachtas committee can investigate, hear evidence and recommend policy, but it cannot amend the criminal law. Repeal would require the government to prepare legislation and the Oireachtas to pass it.

The government’s programme supported a health-led approach and diversion to health services, but the report cited by Dublin People found little indication that ministers were preparing legislation to decriminalise possession across all drugs.

The proposal nevertheless goes further than the discretionary adult caution for a first cannabis offence. A caution changes how one case may be handled; repeal would remove the possession offence itself.

In the index

The committee changed the terms of Ireland’s debate, not its law. Ireland’s possession and enforcement scores therefore do not move. Cannabis possession remains a criminal offence unless and until legislation is enacted.^[1]