Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Is that agreed? Agreed. The next petition is No. P00001/14, Legalise Cannabis Ireland, from Mr. David Kelly. We are now in receipt of four petitions on legalising cannabis, three of which have come before the committee. However, petition No. P00003/15 was only received on 29 January 2015. That will be brought before the committee in the near future. The petition being considered today calls for a referendum on the issue of legalising cannabis for medical and recreational use. This petition was considered by the committee on 12 March 2014. During its consideration of the petition, the committee agreed that while it had agreed to close petition No. P00029/13 without further examination, as a preliminary step because the issue merited further debate, it was agreed to refer this petition to the Joint Committee on Health and Children and the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality for consideration.

As members will recall, the committee deliberated on a similar petition on legalising cannabis, petition No. P00029/13, at its meeting on 11 December 2013. In its consideration of that petition, the committee noted that the issue had been debated in the Houses of the Oireachtas on foot of a Private Members' motion put forward by former Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan in November 2013 and the motion had been defeated. The committee further noted that former Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan had tabled a Private Members' Bill before the Houses of the Oireachtas to legalise cannabis.

After further deliberation on 7 May 2014 on petition No. P00009/14 from Mr. Aaron Davey, it was also decided to forward the petition to the Joint Committee on Health and Children and to the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality and ask whether they would consider examining this issue as part of their work programme, and both committees decided against this. The joint sub-committee further agreed at the meeting to close the petition. Both committees have reported back. They will not be including the issues raised in their work programme.

In summary, we have had the debates put forward by former Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan. It is the view of this committee that these matters have been debated fully in these Houses and there has been a vote. The Dáil divided, with 112 in support of the Government amendment and eight against. On a Private Members' motion, one votes on the Government amendment. Therefore, 112 voted against the proposition put forward by former Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan and eight voted for his proposition.

On 11 July, the Minister of State at the Department of Health with responsibility for primary care signed regulations to enable authorised cannabis-based medicinal products to be legally prescribed by medical practitioners. Essentially, the committee agreed to close the petition and write to the petitioners informing them of those facts. That is the end of our deliberation on that matter. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Petition No. P00039/14, acknowledgements and responses by Departments to correspondence, from Mr. Norman Wilson, is one of two petitions submitted by the petitioner. Mr. Wilson is an Irish citizen living in Australia. He is married to an Australian and they have a child together. Mr. Wilson is annoyed that during a recent trip home to Ireland to visit his family, his wife was informed by a member of staff at passport control that she could not go through the same passport control desk as her husband and EU nationals and that she would need to enter the queue for non-nationals. To cut to the chase, he was not happy with the length of time that he had to wait for a response from the Department. He proposed that in future there should be acknowledgements within 24 hours and an answer in full within one month. I invite Senator Ó Clochartaigh to record our decision.