Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Kenny for all the work he has done on this issue and on the Bill. I also thank those who have gone before him, including Ming Flanagan who is in the Gallery. I also thank all the campaigners, many of whom are here. They have been pushing on this issue for a long time, trying to get us in the direction of social progress.

I have been here almost ten years, incredibly, and I have learned a thing or two about how the establishment politicians react to questions of social changes. There seem to be truisms that are always the case. One is that they lag behind the population. Another is that if the opportunity presents itself to kick the can down the road, they will take it and kick that can as far as they possibly can. Another is that they adopt the language of change and progress well before, if ever, they adopt policies that represent progress and change. Unfortunately, all of these are on display in the reaction of the Government and will be on display in the course of the debate.

It is clear the people are ahead of the politicians; that is what the citizens' assembly showed. The citizens' assembly was clear about a proper health-led approach and about decriminalisation. It came within one vote of recommending the legalisation of cannabis, which would be the right thing to do to take this out of the control of criminal gangs and to have proper State control, regulation and so on. It was very clear about decriminalisation, yet the State and the politicians are dragging their heels.

The second thing relates to kicking the can down the road, which is what the Government plans to do with this Bill. There is going to be a timed amendment and the Government is going to say, very reasonably, that because we have the citizens' assembly and need to take time to consider it, we should just delay this issue and say the Bill will pass in nine months. Another thing that will happen in nine months is a general election, or it may be in ten months, 11 months or, at most, in 13 months. The Government's amendment, therefore, if it passes, will guarantee that the Bill will not pass before there is an election and a new government. That is what the Government’s amendment is about. It is to avoid taking a decision. All we are asking for is that the Government would take the decision, in principle, to say we are going to decriminalise the possession of small quantities of cannabis for personal use. It is a tiny step in the direction in which we need to go. It is nowhere near even the implementation of the full citizens' assembly recommendations. It is about agreeing in principle that this is the direction in which we should go, yet the Government wants to kick the can down the road and not do it.

Third, there is the rhetoric. It is interesting, and it is a sign of the pressure the Government is under, that for the past two years or so, if you ask about drugs in this Chamber, the Government will say it is in favour of a health-led approach. It has got the idea that that is the language to use, but there is no aspect of a health-led approach in what the Government actually does. A health-led approach has two aspects, namely, stopping the criminalising of people for taking drugs and investing in health services, in tackling inequality, deprivation and trauma, in addiction services and in the health services to deal with problem drug use, abuse and addiction, but that is also not happening. The Government just has the language of a health-led approach while continuing with a war on drugs and a criminalisation-type approach, proven by the fact there were more than 12,000 recorded offences for the possession of an illicit drug for personal use in 2022. The possession of an illicit drug for personal use accounted for 70% of all drug offences in 2022.

This was summed up by Micheál Martin, the Tánaiste, when he was asked recently about an injection centre in Cork. He made some positive noises about being open to it, but he then raised what I think was meant to be some sort of profound question about the ethics of the State doing this and about whether the State would be responsible for what happened to people if they took drugs in an injection centre authorised by the State. It was just complete nonsense. He has to know it is complete nonsense. It has nothing to do with a health-led approach. Of course there would be no obligation or legal liability on the State, but again, it is just obfuscation, sitting on the fence and avoiding taking the change.

To come to the basics, this is a question as to whether we continue down the road of a failed war on drugs or recognise the reality that we will not stop people taking drugs as a result of criminalisation and, instead, we need to invest in the services, in tackling inequality and so on to make sure we allow people to take drugs in a safe manner if they choose to do so while minimising the dangers of drug abuse and drug addiction. We need to pass the Bill and reject the Government amendment.

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