‘Ireland must mimic approach to drugs in Portugal,’ says Limerick TD

LABOUR TD Conor Sheehan says Ireland needs to follow in the footsteps of Portugal in decriminalising people who carry small amounts of drugs for personal use. He says Limerick is facing a “huge drugs crisis”, and “you cannot police your way out of it”.

“Anyone who thinks you can is lying to you essentially,” the Limerick City TD said.

“We need to move towards decriminalisation of the user. That does not mean making drugs legal. It involves making sure the people who are sick, in addiction, they don't end up in court. They don't end up with a criminal record to add to the smorgasbord of problems they already face,” he said.

Since this approach was taken in Portugal, Mr Sheehan says the Iberian nation’s drug death rate has “fallen through the floor”.
“They've decriminalised the user. So it means people are not being criminalised for possession of small amounts of drugs, not for sale or supply. So you don't have people ending up in court for having some weed for personal use,” he said.

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Data from the National Drug Treatment Reporting System has shown that in the health region of Limerick, Clare and North Tipperary, there were 907 people treated for drugs as a main problem in 2023, the most recent date to which data is available.

At present, Mr Sheehan says, Ireland’s approach is the same as that which took place in Britain, something he described as “failed”.

“You have scumbags preying on the most vulnerable and marginalised communities. We need gardai to tackle the drug dealers,” said Mr Sheehan.

For drug addicts, work needs to be done to start “unravelling the myriad of problems they have.”