The Department of Health has begun the process of developing the successor to the national drugs strategy Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery: A health-led response to drug and alcohol use in Ireland 2017-2025.1 The strands of work informing this process include: 

• The findings and recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use and the views of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Drugs Use2,3•    
• An independent evaluation of Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery and its action plans
• Consultations with stakeholders on key themes relating to the new strategy
• The commitments made in the 2025 Programme for Government4 
• Developments in the European Union’s (EU’s) Drugs Strategy and Action Plan (which also expire in 2025).5 

The Pompidou Group (Council of Europe International Cooperation Group on Drugs and Addictions) is the Council of Europe’s drug policy cooperation platform. In March 2025 it published a new report titled Bringing human rights to the heart of drug and addiction policies: Guidance for aligning drug and addiction policies with human rights.1 The report provides a succinct but comprehensive overview of the issues related to human rights to be considered by all stakeholders involved in the drug policy-making process.