Mr. Jim Walsh:

Drugs policy is another part of my remit so I fully take the Senator's point that we need to have a health-led approach to the possession of drugs. More of a focus from the health point of view would address some of the stigma issues that we spoke of earlier. The Ministers, Deputies Harris and Flanagan, along with Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, have announced a health diversion programme, which the Department is now preparing to roll out, where people caught in possession of drugs will be referred to the health services and taken out of the criminal justice system.