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

Around $100 billion is spent per year spent on fighting the war on drugs. It is estimated that the illicit drug trade is worth about $450 billion a year, all in the hands of criminals. Of course, that is what drives drugs gangs; that is what drives criminal gangs. This debate must be interlinked with policy on drugs. It is mostly disadvantaged inner city areas that are affected. I am a rural TD and my constituency is also affected, as is any area where there is an urban conglomeration. I do not have a strong view one way or the other, but what I know for sure is that what we are doing now is failing and has been failing for a long time. We have talked about the Portuguese model, but it might be useful to look at other models in the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Spain. It is not that people are told that taking drugs is fine, but the focus is shifted from a criminal justice perspective to a health and education perspective. We have work to do on this, and obviously while we have the policy we must also support communities and An Garda Síochána.

I apologise for making comments rather than asking questions; I will try to get to a question as quickly as I can. It is difficult to avoid commentary on this issue.

When I speak to people who work at the front line against drugs they tell me that, as with all community voluntary groups, they face cutbacks in the resources available to them. The Garda Síochána faces cutbacks in the resources available to it, and now there is apparently an upturn again in the use of drugs. It is a cycle. For me the temptation is to do something that takes the power away from the criminals and gives it back to the community - deploying resources in health and education and in communities to help people who feel the need to take drugs - rather than what is being done now. I suppose I would like more debate on it from people on the panel.