Seanad debates

Tuesday, 21 May 2019

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

 

2:30 pm

Photo of Lynn RuaneLynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the recent publication which seems to conflate drug decriminalisation and the legalisation of cannabis, which are two very different debates. The working group on drug decriminalisation has now given the Minister its report and this must be made public.There are various media articles that have taken pieces of that report and reported on them in an ambiguous way. I have seen the report. It has laid out three options, two of which are for variations of adult caution. One of these is a watered down version of decriminalisation and I believe civil society groups and I could work with the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, on this. It is not fair that the media appears to get snippets of the report prior to it being laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas when we can engage in a meaningful way. I read today that the chairman of the working group, retired judge Mr. Justice Garrett Sheehan, is seeking to bring forward a minority report that comes out against the three options in the report which are not even around drug decriminalisation. I stand to be corrected but I believe that Mr. Justice Sheehan is looking for harsher penalties for a person who is caught in possession of drugs in his or her pocket for personal use. I am appalled to think that a judge who has been in the system this long, and who has seen vulnerable people who came in front his court ending up in prison with worse drug addictions than they had before they entered the courtroom, would even suggest harsher penalties for people in addiction. I would like the Leader to ask the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, to come to the House to have a debate on the report and to get the report published so that Members can have a real conversation about it.

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