Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I sincerely acknowledge the Deputy's work and his strength of feeling on this. Even though we do not always agree on every element of it, I fully acknowledge he is motivated by a sense of wanting to save lives and help people. I thank him for the work he has done on that.

The first thing I will do is read the report, which I have not done. All of us, during the general election, need to outline clearly what we intend to do in terms of next steps. The next Dáil should try to make real progress on this. The Deputy and I may have different views on this, but sometimes the debate becomes narrowed down to the issue of decriminalisation. There is a broader debate around a health-led approach and health interventions that can be made to help people. There is a very big difference between somebody with an addiction who needs a bit of help, and somebody who is perhaps more casually using drugs on a Saturday night out in the local pub. We need to understand, from a policy point of view, how to differentiate between the two.

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