An all-party committee says people should not be criminalised for possessing small amounts of drugs.

The Oireachtas Justice Committee says people caught with illegal drugs should instead be dealt with by the health services.

The committee does not want the drugs to be legalised - but believes that prosecuting people for minor drugs offences can be counter-productive and make it harder for them to get jobs or housing later in life.

The report comes just days after the Junior Minister Responsible for Drugs, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, said he wanted areas where drug addicts could inject in a supervised environment.

Committee chairman, David Stanton of Fine Gael, stresses that he is not looking for drugs to be decriminalised.