Sinn Féin delegates dropped a proposal calling on the judiciary to enforce mandatory minimum sentences for drug dealing, favouring instead an amended motion that sentencing should reflect the seriousness of the crimes and their impact on communities.
The party's justice spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh said that while they should be tough on drug breaches, it was not a "black and white" issue, and the US experience had shown that mandatory sentences were ineffective in dealing with the real issue to reduce drug abuse and drug-related crime.
Two Irish Leaving courses proposed
Delegates backed a proposal to have two Irish courses at Leaving Certificate, for language and literature, with the same 100 points value for college entry.
The proposal said the language course should be compulsory at Junior and Leaving Cert levels, but that the literature course could be optional. The party supported a motion for an Irish language Act for the North.