District Court convictions for drug-related offences fell by 10 per cent last year in Galway city.
Galway had 154 convictions for drug offences in 2025, compared to 171 in 2024. This decrease goes against the national trend of rising drug convictions: from 5,202 to 5,440 over the past year– a five percent uptick.
In County Galway, the Loughrea district saw 33 convictions last year, exactly the same number as 2024.
Almost all of the County Galway convictions were for possession of drugs, cultivation of cannabis plants and possession of drugs with intent to supply.
The figures come from a Freedom of Information request submitted by Cynthia Ní Mhurchú MEP, the former TV presenter and barrister who was elected to represent the Munster constituency for Fianna Fáil in 2024.
She has called for tougher penalties for these low-level drug convictions, and highlighted the disparity in conviction rates across different regions, especially the midlands, where districts such as Tullamore (up 180% ) and Portlaoise (up 95% ) have experienced a massive rise.
Galway has the 10th highest number of drug convictions of the 32 court districts. Dublin (2071 convictions ), Cork (504 ) and Clonmel (281 ) had the highest nationally.
Ní Mhurchú has called for the swift implementation of the government’s National Drugs Strategy, 2026- 2029, a policy initiative currently being finalised.
She also suggested a raft of community-based sanctions against those convicted of recreational drug use, higher fines for casual drug use, more detox beds for those with addiction issues, restorative justice programmes and publicity campaigns to tackle social drug use.
