Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for her compassion and passion in dealing with this matter. I thank her for the time she put in when she came to see us about her Bill. I asked her to hold off until we put the group together. We have done so. I thank the over 20,000 people who emailed their views on the matter.

I appreciate very much the Senator's special interest in this issue. She introduced a Private Members' Bill in 2017. We share the same desire to make positive changes in this area. In November 2017, I established a working group to consider the approach in other jurisdictions to the possession of drugs for personal use. The group was set up to examine alternative responses for simple possession and will make recommendations on policy options to me and my colleagues in government, including the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan.

The group is chaired by a retired judge, Mr. Garrett Sheehan, and consists of representatives from the Department of justice, the criminal justice system, the Department of Health, the HSE and the HRB. There are also two service users as well as academic experts. The work programme of the working group has consisted of meetings with experts from other countries, commissioning research on other jurisdictions and undertaking a public consultation. I understand the group met Senator Ruane, who explained to it the background and context to her Private Members' Bill.

I have been informed there have been 14 meetings of the working group to date. To inform its deliberations, wide-ranging public consultation was undertaken by the Department of Health, consisting of an online questionnaire, focus groups and an open policy debate. The online questionnaire received a response from over 20,000 people, which far exceeds the response in any consultation previously undertaken by the Department. Two focus groups were held, with a total of 15 people who had been prosecuted for the possession of illegal drugs for personal use. An open policy debate was attended by 17 representatives of stakeholder organisations. The participants explored how an alternative health-led approach should operate in practice.The working group commissioned a group of internationally renowned researchers to conduct a review of the approaches and experiences in nine other jurisdictions with respect to the possession of drugs for personal use. In light of the large volume of work undertaken and the associated amount of information to be considered by the working group, the chair requested an extension to the original timeframe. On 19 December 2018, I granted an extension of three months so that the group could complete the report and ensure it addresses all of the terms of reference. I met the chair of the group in January and he updated me on progress. He advised me that the working group is drafting the final report and is on track to submit it by the end of quarter 1 of 2019.