Results 41-60 of 72 for speaker:Mal O'Hara

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Mal O'Hara: I thank Ms Lawlor and Professor Stevens. I particularly welcome Ms Eastwood. I guess that is a northern accent. It is great to hear somebody talk authoritatively on this issue. Does international evidence show that sanctions attached to diversion work? What is the position regarding the discretionary element when it comes to diversion?

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Mal O'Hara: I thank the witnesses. My second question has two parts. In the expert opinion of our witnesses, is there anything in current policy that is positive? If we maintain any form of status quo, is there anything positive in doing that? The witnesses can provide a very short answer in that regard if they want. Do they think that the citizens' assembly recommendations go far enough?

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Mal O'Hara: Deputy Hourigan referred to this already referred to potency and the potential for testing drugs. Which avenue provides us with the best opportunity in this regard?

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Mal O'Hara: Apologies. I had to nip out to the Seanad. I have a question which might be difficult to answer. Obviously this is a shared island. Does any of the international evidence around a divergence in drug policy approaches between states with a permeable border where people cross freely, where supply markets are all-island-based, and so on, indicate what impact changes that we were to make in...

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Jul 2024)

Mal O'Hara: I thank the witnesses. I will start with Ms Wilson. In her opening statement, she spoke about historic de facto decriminalisation, which was about police using their discretion. Was there a disproportionate impact with that discretion on black, brown, minority and indigenous communities?

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Jul 2024)

Mal O'Hara: I thank Ms Wilson. Senator Ruane spoke about prevention and education. It was clear in the opening statements from the witnesses that there were gaps that should have been filled, complementary to the pace of change for decriminalisation. Could the witnesses talk about what those might be?

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Jul 2024)

Mal O'Hara: Ms Wilson almost pre-empted my next question. I wanted to talk about drug testing. She referred to the increased toxicity of substances. What is the regime or scheme around testing? Is there any sense of diversionary tactics? She said the police have limited powers with decriminalisation. What would she suggest might be an appropriate diversionary tactic?

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Jul 2024)

Mal O'Hara: I asked about diversion.

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Jul 2024)

Mal O'Hara: I thank Ms Wilson. In his evidence, Mr. Russoniello said peer-reviewed evidence suggested there was no association with an increase in deaths under measure 110. Could he speak a little more about that? Often the proponents of decriminalisation, myself included, hear pushback that we should look at Oregon, in particular Portland. We need to nail that in terms of the peer-reviewed evidence...

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Jul 2024)

Mal O'Hara: I thank the Chair. Being further down the list means lots of my questions have been asked. I thank both witnesses.

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation (Resumed): Department of House, Local Government and Heritage (11 Jul 2024)

Mal O'Hara: I thank the Minister of State for coming to talk to us. The ethnic identifier was introduced in March 2022. What is the Minister of State's sense and that of the Department of how robust that is? Without clear, concise data, we cannot get a true picture of need. There has been significant progress on introducing that, but how robustly is the ethnic identifier being implemented and what...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation (Resumed): Department of House, Local Government and Heritage (11 Jul 2024)

Mal O'Hara: We have 32 recommendations from the expert review, of which ten have been completed in six years. There has been no completion of some of those relating to governance, although it is a work in progress. I am concerned about the assessments of living conditions, which Deputy Ó Cuív raised earlier. Can the Minister of State give any commitment to the committee about progress on...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation (Resumed): Department of House, Local Government and Heritage (11 Jul 2024)

Mal O'Hara: Will the Minister of State comment on the assessment of living standards?

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Mal O'Hara: I thank the witnesses for coming in. With their indulgence, my first round of questions will be for the IPU and in my second round I will come to the ICGP. My first question is on international engagement and the discussions with the Portuguese pharmacy union. Did it historically support decriminalisation in its widest context? Does it still have the same position? What has the IPU...

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Mal O'Hara: From the inception, how robust was the provision of needle exchange services and OST in Portugal?

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Mal O'Hara: I want to pick at that point a little bit. I get the sense we are saying that we should not let perfect be the enemy of the good. Decriminalisation in itself is already a concrete step but for additional success in that regard and to save lives, which is ultimately what we want to do, we need to put all those additional supports in place and we need significant infrastructure investment in...

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Mal O'Hara: It was mentioned that only 100 out of 1,800 pharmacies are providing needle exchange services. Will the witnesses give clarity on the OST? Are the 100 pharmacies situated in deprived areas? Is there a blanket approach? What is the approach in terms of those provisions and the community engagement? From my experience working in Belfast, we wanted to put a needle exchange into a community...

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Mal O'Hara: I am a Belfast boy and I want to raise something in relation to the submission from the Irish College of General Practitioners. In Northern Ireland we had 218 deaths in 2020 and 213 in 2021. The ONS would say that is 11.5 per 100,000. Scaled up that is 115 per million, which is higher than the rate here in Ireland. The challenge of that is when we look at the European statistics we take...

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Mal O'Hara: Regarding my second question, Dr. Crowley touched on a more holistic model around primary care. We spoke about some of the significant gaps. I think they came up again in respect of mental health provision. What does that look like in an ideal world?

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Mal O'Hara: In his piece, Dr. Kenny said that 350 GPs completed specialist training and the challenge relating to that. How much more additional resources are required in terms of that provision for GPs?