Fianna Fáil pledges to decriminalise possession of drugs for personal use

By Cate McCurry, PA

Fianna Fáil has pledged to decriminalise the possession of drugs for personal use as part of its lengthy manifesto promises.

Party leader Micheál Martin launched the party’s general election manifesto, which sets out six priority areas including cost of living, health, housing communities, economy and education.

Titled Moving Forward, Together, the 194-page document pledges to help families and businesses, reform health services and cut waiting times for patients, as well as “accelerating the momentum” in home building.

Among its promises is the decriminalisation of drug possession for personal use.

The party said it will introduce legislation to require those found in possession of illegal drugs for personal use to attend educational or treatment programmes.

Mr Martin said the decriminalisation of possession of drugs is an important step.

“I think it reflects the understanding that the most effective way of dealing with drugs is a health-based model, as opposed to a criminal justice-based model,” he said.

“That requires resources in personnel and in people, around addiction, around various therapies and so forth.

“We did this in previous times, particularly during the heroin epidemic of previous eras. We can do it again. We must do it in a more consistent, sustained way, perhaps, than was the case in the past.”

Mr Martin did not confirm the value of drugs that this would apply to.

Mr Martin was joined by the party’s election candidates for the launch of the manifesto, which took place at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin.

The party has also pledged to reduce childcare fees to €200 a month for each child, saying it could go further “should economic and fiscal circumstances permit”.

It said it will also set up a new National Childcare Price Register to ensure that there is transparency in fees for parents.

Mr Martin said the changes to childcare fees would be over the time of the next government.

“We could increase that. We could move it faster, but that is a commitment over the next term of government,” he said.

The party has also committed to double the tax rent credit, with Mr Martin saying that renters need help and assistance.

He ruled out bringing in a rent freeze.

“In respect of renters, we have to maintain a viable rental market, and there is evidence of people leaving the market,” he added.

“If one was to initiate a rent freeze, I think it would be counterproductive to the objective of having more homes provided in the rental market itself.

“The rental tax credit would go to renters, and because of the rent pressure zones and so on, there’s no evidence that the existing rents were going up for existing tenants for quite some time, but I think renters do need help, and do need assistance.”

The party has also pledged to increase the entry point to the higher rate of income tax to at least €50,000, and the lower rate of Universal Social Charge (USC) would fall from 3 per cent to 1.5 per cent over the lifetime of the government.

Among the party’s pledges is to increase the number of gardaí by up to 5,000 over the next five years.

It also said it would reform the garda recruitment and training processes to increase capacity and to widen the talent pool.