Mr. Pat Leahy:

That has been well articulated by An Garda Síochána but it is not a simple issue and it is not as simple as either crime or health. It is a combination of the two and they are inextricably linked. We 100% acknowledge that there is a health issue but there is an enforcement issue required as well. I expect the Deputy is going to move on to ask us also about decriminalisation. There is a discourse around this.

The nature of that discourse has changed. Many years ago, entering into that discourse would have been like meeting a brick wall. People refused to engage with the issue because it was not one they wanted to explore. It is being explored now in the context of what it would look like and how it would work. We have to operate from a position of doing no harm. That is what frightens people. They do not know what we are stepping into. This is a significant change and it must not make the problem worse. Do no harm is our first position. That is what people are struggling with in this space at the moment while this discussion is going on. They want to proof that we are going into a better place with this. As Mr. Todd rightly recounted, some police forces have gone into this space and have since tried to reverse back out of it. There is damage associated with it.

I have seen every aspect of the drugs trade and its effect on human beings - children to their mothers, their fathers, their grannies and everything. Somebody has to convince me as an individual. I am expressing a personal opinion here. It frightens me because I have to operate from a position of doing no harm and I have not yet seen definitive evidence that we would be heading into a better place. I acknowledge, however, that there is a serious health issue around drugs and drug taking, as does An Garda Síochána. That came to the fore very recently with the supervised injecting facilities and legislation around that, which An Garda Síochána will support. There is work to be done in that regard but that change brought the issue to the fore. As I said, the issue is being explored. I am not sure how quickly we will reach decision mode around this. I reiterate, however, that we have to operate from a position of doing no harm. I am absolutely open to discussion around it and to exploring anything that can take us out of the space we are in.