Dr. Cian Ó Concubhair:

I agree that there is a good deal of political anxiety. From the soundings from An Garda Síochána in terms of the media blitz they engaged in regarding the assembly, they have made it very clear that they are opposed to decriminalisation or legalisation. I do not think it is controversial to say that.

In terms of recommending anything short of the repeal of section 3 – I attended the citizens' assembly for a weekend to observe. I did not present to it, but I got the opportunity to speak to people. It was very clear the emphasis was on destigmatisation. The language in the room was designed to remove stigma around drug use because it has been extremely harmful. You cannot remove stigma if you maintain criminal offences. That is what they are there for, namely to impose stigma. Any measure short of reducing that will mean people will continue to be prosecuted.

What is interesting about what is happening in England specifically is that at a political level there is no appetite whatsoever to move on from the status quo, but certain police forces and police leaders – for example the chief constable in Durham Constabulary – are very different to those in Ireland in that they are leading and moving away from stigma. They cannot decriminalise because the law is set by Westminster but they have been bringing in diversionary measures, which have been very successful. They have been subject to academic analysis by people like Matthew Bacon in Sheffield. What is interesting is that there is pushback at ground level. Some individual officers at the coalface are embracing it but others are not. Senior officers are having to manage that cultural opposition. What that tells us is that even when you have senior police officers who buy in to the project of trying to remove stigma, which is not the case in Ireland currently, individual officers on the ground, who are the ones to hold the discretion about whether or not someone would be diverted into one of these arrangements, are ignoring what is happening at a more senior level. We can see that already from the adult cautioning system around cannabis, where there has been very little uptake. The vast majority of people who are being caught are still being prosecuted for cannabis possession. A number of District Court judges have gone on the public record stating their opposition to any move away from the status quo. What that tells me at least is that if cases come before them, they are going to convict people.