John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this debate. None of us can contribute without being conscious of and touched by the story of Vera Twomey and her daughter. For many of us, it has dominated and been at the forefront of these proceedings. From personal experience, I know what she is going through and the challenges she is facing, particularly when traditional and conventional drugs no longer operate as they should. While the legislation before us will have a major impact for Vera, it is also important to realise that it will be further reaching than that.

I acknowledge the work of the committee. I read its report. The committee found significant challenges in the Bill. According to the concluding remark on the last page of the recommendations to the Dáil, it would be onerous to address those issues. The Bill's proposers have stated that they are willing to challenge and address these. My colleague, Deputy Kelleher, indicated that he was prepared to work on this and give an opportunity for the issues to be addressed.

Speaking as a former Minister of State with responsibility for drugs, one of my main issues relates to a specific concern of the committee, namely, the Bill's proposal to remove cannabis from the Misuse of Drugs Act and what that would entail. Apart from being a psychoactive drug, considerable research and reports refer to cannabis as being a gateway drug and so on. However, I do not want to have that debate today. The types of issue that were highlighted need to be addressed.

Deputy O'Reilly spoke. I have the greatest of respect for the members of the committee. It was an all-party report and they conducted their work in a fair manner. The issues that they highlighted need to be addressed. We are prepared to work with colleagues to do so.

In that regard, I am appalled by Deputy Barry's comments.

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