Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious of time. Deputy Kenny mentioned that the perception is that decriminialising drugs would give drug dealers a free run, but it is not about that. The witnesses are right, and I have looked a lot at the Portuguese model. When you go over there, you will not be walking into a betting office, as it were. Other preventative measures are put in place to access what is actually addictive without being totalitarian about it.

For us as legislators, in an ideal world, what would the witnesses view as the first move we should take to facilitate them and make it easier for them to do their jobs, thereby benefiting the people we are supposed to help, instead of us just sitting here, talking about it and saying that was a bad idea and they did not do it well? There is no point in us blaming people in that situation. If we are the legislators, we should be in a position to do something right.