Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

When will the working group report on alternative responses for personal possession of drugs? It was due to report to the Government by the end of 2018 and we now hear that it will be the end of the first quarter of this year before the report is completed. At many of our joint policing committees and other meetings with An Garda Síochána, we hear that virtually all crime is now drug-related. What consideration is the Government giving to decriminalisation, along the lines of the Portuguese, Uruguayan or Canadian models, or those adopted in many states in the US?

It must be remembered that the Government and the previous Fianna Fáil Government slashed Garda numbers and retrenched across health, housing and education. This had a desperate impact on vulnerable communities and the development of the north fringe, south fringe and Fingal areas of Dublin city was held up for almost a decade. It is now proceeding again but surely an integral part of any plan for a new urban district is a public security presence. Will the Taoiseach ask the Minister for Justice to liaise with the two planning authorities to ensure that the new Garda divisional headquarters will be in that new city, as it were, on the northern boundary of Dublin?

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