Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the two contributors for their presentations. There is a lot to think about. On first listen, people might feel frightened or cautious but it should be taken as an opportunity to look at how to undertake decriminalisation, rather than reasons for not doing it. It is about what remits and regulations should and what service provision needs to coincide with that. It is interesting that we have had prohibition for decades and allowed that to be rolled out in the way we have done, but when decriminalisation is introduced, within two years we are told it has failed and then it is rolled back on. It can be used as a weapon whereby decriminalisation is painted as the cause of all the other ills that exist, but it is important we be really clear about exactly what decriminalisation is and what it intends to do. It will not end the housing crisis or the phenomenon of people with mental health issues congregating in the street. It is about not compounding that.

My first question is for Ms Wilson. In outlining the rowing back on the spaces of exemptions, she named a couple of spaces where the use has not been rolled back. Is a differentiation made between possession and use where a police officer who is walking a beat in the street encounters somebody who is not using publicly but may be in possession. If that person is searched for another reason and is found with, say, less than 2.5 g in their possession but is not using it publicly, will they be arrested for possession if that possession occurs outside of those spaces Ms Wilson named?