- Irish judges keep adjourning drugs cases because Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) has not yet analysed the drugs. On 8 October a Cork judge refused a State request to put a €20,000 cannabis case back to March 2027 for analysis.
- The number that would explain this, how many drug cases are waiting at the lab, has not been published since June 2023, as far as we can find. It was 3,527 then (The Irish Times). FSI's 2024 and 2025 annual reports do not give a backlog figure or a typical waiting time.
- FSI's own tables show what happened since. In 2024 the lab received 10,595 drug and toxicology cases and reported on 7,180: 3,415 fewer than came in, the second-largest shortfall since 2019.
- In 2025 it caught up a little. It reported on 11,453 and received 10,763: 690 more out than in.
- At that 2025 pace, clearing a backlog the size of the last published one (3,527) would take about 5.1 years. That is a scenario, not a forecast. The working is below.
- Cannabis was the largest category of drugs FSI analysed in 2024 (44%) and the second-largest in 2025 (35%, behind powders at 44%).
On 8 October the Irish Examiner reported a Cork District Court case in which a woman is charged over cannabis worth €20,000. The State asked for the case to be adjourned until March 2027 so the drugs could be analysed. Judge David Waters refused and put it back to 14 December instead. "If the State cannot inspect drugs between now and December 14 there is something seriously wrong with the system," he said, as reported by the Irish Examiner.
It is not a one-off. In September and October the same court heard a €400,000 cocaine case on its sixth or seventh appearance, with forensic examination one of the reasons given, and a €329 heroin and crack cocaine case on its twelfth appearance, still without a forensic certificate. Courts in Naas, Longford and Letterkenny have heard similar complaints in past years.
So we asked a simple question: how many drug cases are waiting at the lab now, and how long do they wait? We could find no published figure since 2023. Here is what is public, and what it adds up to.
What was published, and what wasn't
| Question | Status |
|---|---|
| Drug cases sent to FSI each year | Published (annual reports: 10,763 in 2025) |
| Drug cases FSI reported on each year | Published (11,453 in 2025, split into complex and Section 3 possession cases) |
| Share of cannabis in drugs analysed | Published (44% in 2024, 35% in 2025) |
| Urgent drug cases reported within 24 hours | Published (100%, 38 cases in 2025) |
| How many drug cases are waiting for analysis now | No figure found since June 2023 (3,527) |
| Typical (median) time from submission to certificate for non-urgent drug cases | Not published |
| How many drug prosecutions were struck out because analysis was late | Not published |
| Waiting times for cannabis cases specifically | Not published |
Cases in, cases out: 2019 to 2025
FSI publishes two numbers each year for drugs and toxicology: cases submitted (by gardaí, Customs and other agencies) and cases reported (a forensic report issued). Here they are side by side.
| Year | Submitted | Reported | In minus out | Reported as % of submitted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 10,480 | 9,667 | +813 | 92.2% |
| 2020 | 13,184 | 8,106 | +5,078 | 61.5% |
| 2021 | 11,747 | 10,440 | +1,307 | 88.9% |
| 2022 | 10,071 | 11,963 | -1,892 | 118.8% |
| 2023 | 10,688 | 8,550 | +2,138 | 80.0% |
| 2024 | 10,595 | 7,180 | +3,415 | 67.8% |
| 2025 | 10,763 | 11,453 | -690 | 106.4% |
Three things stand out.
2024 was a bad year for output. Reports fell to 7,180, the lowest in the series. FSI says the 21% fall in its total reports that year "reflects the necessary resource investment in starting up a new laboratory" as it moved to its new campus at Backweston, Co Kildare. Simple possession (Section 3) reports fell hardest: from 5,817 in 2022 to 2,302 in 2024, down 60%.
2025 was a recovery. Drug reports rose 59.5%, to 11,453. Section 3 reports went back up to 5,771. For the first time since 2022, the lab reported more drug cases than it received.
The recovery is small next to the hole. The 2025 surplus was 690 cases. The 2023 and 2024 shortfalls were 2,138 and 3,415. Across the lab as a whole (not just drugs), FSI received about 25,000 cases in 2025 and reported about 23,000, a shortfall of about 2,000, as The Irish Times reported in September.
The missing number: how many are waiting
We found four public figures for cases waiting at the lab. None is more recent than June 2023.
Can you work out today's backlog from the yearly in and out numbers? We tried, and the answer is no. Start from 3,673 at the beginning of 2019 and add each year's "in minus out" up to the end of 2022. You get 8,979. But the figure reported in June 2023 was 3,527. That is a difference of 5,452. The timing isn't exact (an end-2022 total against a mid-2023 figure), but the gap is far too big to be timing alone. The same sum up to the end of 2020 gives about 9,560, and to the end of 2021 about 10,870, while the June 2021 estimate was "more than 6,000 samples". So the yearly figures and the published backlog figures drift apart from 2020 onwards.
So the yearly tables don't map one-to-one onto a queue. Some submissions may be withdrawn, merged or never need a full report. Toxicology cases are counted in the same line. That is exactly why a direct backlog figure matters, and why we have not printed an estimate of the current backlog.
A scenario: how long to clear a backlog at 2025's pace
In 2025, the lab's drug output beat its intake by 690 cases, or about 58 a month. If intake and output stayed exactly at 2025 levels, a queue the size of the last published one would take:
3,527 ÷ 690 = about 5.1 years to clear.
Change the inputs to test other cases. FSI expects staff to grow from about 200 to 230 this year and 250 by the end of next year (The Irish Times, September 2026), which would raise output.
How long would a backlog take to clear?
Net clearance: 690 cases a year. Time to clear: 5.1 years (about 61 months).
Defaults: the last published backlog (June 2023) and FSI's 2025 drug intake and output. Working: years = cases waiting ÷ (reported − received). A scenario, not a forecast.
Where cannabis fits
Cannabis is one of the biggest parts of the lab's drug work. In 2024 "cannabis and edibles" made up 44% of drugs analysed, ahead of powders at 38%. Its "top 10 drugs reported" chart for 2024 puts cannabis products first at 4,281, covering 3.1 tonnes of flower or leaf, 200 kg of resin and 747 plants. In 2025 cannabis fell to 35%, behind powders at 44%.
The lab is also seeing more complicated cannabis products. Of the ten new substances or unusual presentations FSI notified in 2025, five were synthetic or semi-synthetic cannabinoids, including HHC-C8, recorded as a first in Europe. The 2025 report lists gummy sweets containing HHC-P and plant material containing synthetic cannabinoids.
The report also says that "throughout 2025, there have been several FSI drug case reports" involving "hemp-style" products, which it lists as CBD, cannabis and cannabis resin, "adulterated with synthetic cannabinoids". It does not say how many.
Bigger cases are growing too. FSI says cases for sale or supply of drugs worth €13,000 or more (Section 15A of the Misuse of Drugs Act) rose from 45 in 2020 to 318 in 2024, a seven-fold increase.
Common questions
Is there a backlog right now?
We don't know, and that is the point. FSI's most recent annual report (2025) does not give one. The last public figure was 3,527 drug cases in June 2023. The yearly in and out figures suggest the queue grew in 2023 and 2024 and shrank slightly in 2025, but they can't give a reliable total.
How long does a drug analysis take?
FSI publishes one turnaround target for drugs: 100% of urgent ("A") cases reported verbally within 24 hours. In 2025 that covered 38 cases, about 0.3% of the 11,453 drug cases reported. It does not publish a typical time for the rest. Court reports mention waits of months: in the Cork case reported on 8 October, the State asked for an adjournment to March 2027.
Why does the lab analyse every case, even small ones?
Drugs prosecutions generally need proof of what the substance is. In 2020 the Leinster Leader reported that gardaí were already using presumptive testing for some small possession cases, while major seizures went to FSI for a certificate of analysis.
Did FSI hit its own targets?
For complex drug and toxicology cases its target was 6,200 reports a year. It reported 4,878 in 2024 (78.7% of target) and 5,682 in 2025. The 2025 report describes that as 95% of the yearly target; by our division it is 91.6% (5,682 ÷ 6,200). The report does not show how the 95% was calculated.
Is this about CBD?
Not directly. This piece is about the public data on how fast the State can analyse seized drugs. Cannabis was the largest single group in 2024 and the second-largest in 2025. FSI's 2025 report does say that in several 2025 cases, "hemp-style" products (it lists CBD, cannabis and cannabis resin) were found adulterated with synthetic cannabinoids. It doesn't give a number.
Method
We took drugs and toxicology "submitted" and "reported" figures from FSI's Annual Report 2024 (Tables 1 and 2, for 2019) and Annual Report 2025 (Figures 1 and 2, for 2020 to 2025). Where both reports cover a year, the drugs figures match. "In minus out" is submitted minus reported. Complex plus Section 3 reports add up to the reported total in every year. Published backlog figures come from the press reports listed below, each of which cites FSI, the Department of Justice or FOI records. We did not estimate the current backlog because the yearly figures don't reconcile with the published backlog points (see above). The clearance scenario assumes intake and output stay at 2025 levels and is not a forecast. Court details come from Irish Examiner reports; we don't name anyone charged. All calculations are in the downloadable CSVs.
- Forensic Science Ireland, Annual Report 2025 (report dated 2026), pp. 8, 14–17, 53, 62. PDF via drugsandalcohol.ie
- Forensic Science Ireland, Annual Report 2024, foreword and pp. 12–14, 55. PDF via drugsandalcohol.ie
- Irish Examiner, "'Something seriously wrong with the system' if drugs cannot be analysed before December: judge", Liam Heylin, 8 October 2026. Link
- Irish Examiner, "Solicitor involved in free legal aid dispute asks for €400,000 drugs case to be struck out due to delays", Liam Heylin, 2 September 2026. Link
- Irish Examiner, "Cork man to appear for 13th time in court over €329 drugs possession case", Liam Heylin, 2 October 2026. Link
- The Irish Times, "Rise in number and complexity of forensic cases leads to lengthy backlog", Conor Gallagher, 3 June 2023. Link
- The Irish Times, "'They'll use AI for new drugs': Ireland's arms race with organised crime", Conor Lally, 16 September 2026. Link
- Irish Mail on Sunday / NewsScoops, "Drugs cases culled over lab test backlog", Michael O'Farrell, 3 March 2019. Link
- Leinster Leader, "Big drug seizures may be analysed by Kildare gardaí to speed up case prosecution", 20 December 2020. Link
- Longford Leader, "Longford District Court hears forensic lab delays put Gardaí 'between a rock and a hard place'", 26 February 2023. Link
- Donegal Daily, "Donegal drugs cases facing year-long delay because of analysis backlog", 11 April 2022. Link
- Kildare Now, "Naas judge says Garda sniffer dogs are identifying drugs faster than State scientists", 17 September 2021. Link
- Data: FSI drug cases submitted vs reported, 2019–2025 (CSV); Published backlog figures (CSV)
Related data: Ireland quietly cut the value of a kilo of herbal cannabis by 30% in August, and what that does to seizure headlines and the Section 15A threshold.