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

The committee was carrying out work separate from this recently and it was pointed out that there had been a noticeable increase in drug use and so on as the economy appeared to be on the upturn. Ms Metcalfe's evidence was powerful in this regard; it is almost as if she is starting again on the same challenge.

Have any of the witnesses reflected on the failure of the war on drugs internationally and the $100 million or so that has been invested in this war across the world? The Global Initiative for Drug Policy Reform is looking at different approaches. When I talk to people in communities affected by drugs, it makes them very angry to think that drug use would be decriminalised or even tolerated, considering how they have been fighting the effects of this, and that is entirely understandable.

Every show about gangs in America is about drugs. We talk about criminal gangs; they are drug gangs. Drugs are what make criminals wealthy; it is something like a $500 billion industry around the world. It is the third largest economic industry, all in the hands of criminals, not in the hands of people who pay taxes and invest in health services and education systems and so on.

Whatever is being done collectively and internationally right now is not working. Is there any debate in Ireland about new approaches to all of this, or is it something that would be seen as defeatist?