Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Mr. Duffin said that gardaí are very co-operative and that they have a very good relationship down there. That brings me to my next question. I have encountered somebody who had previous convictions and who does a lot of work on it. They said to me - I was surprised because they are a huge advocate for drug treatment - that they would not be in favour of decriminalisation because they felt that the criminal process is the gateway to services. I would like to hear from all our contributors today. Just as we do not want to make the situation worse, there is a push factor within the criminal system where people are incentivised to engage with services because there will be criminal sanction without their engagement. It is not only for the individuals themselves but also for the State. Gardaí come along because there is a criminal issue and the HSE gets involved I presume because the State is engaging with this process because the criminal side of it is a factor.

If we remove criminal sanction completely and there is no push factor for the individual or the State, would we have to rebuild some of the access points to that service or to a similar service? Without the criminal aspect either the service might disintegrate slightly and the engagement from the State might break down or the individuals would not have the push factor to do that which, in itself, might be problematic.