Chairman: The purpose of this part of the meeting is to have an engagement with some of those who made written submissions to the committee on its review of Ireland's approach to the possession of limited quantities of certain drugs.

In session one today, we are joined by the following: BeLonG To is represented by Mr. David Carroll and Mr. Gerard Roe, who are most welcome and I thank them for giving of their time in being here today; the Dublin North East Drugs Task Force is represented by Mr. Pat Carey, the former Minister and an old buddy of ours, and Mr. Shane Brennan; Students for Sensible Drug Policy Ireland, from DCU, is represented by Mr. Daniel Kirby and Mr. Graham de Barra, and I thank them for being here; the Association for Criminal Justice Research and Development, ACJRD, is represented by Ms Maura Butler and Professor Catherine Comiskey with whom we have engaged over the years on many occasions and I thank them for coming in and giving their time; the Irish Penal Reform Trust is represented by Ms Deirdre Malone and Ms Fíona Ní Chinnéide, and they are most welcome; the Irish Association of Social Workers is represented by Mr. Aidan McGivern and Ms Martina McGovern, whose input will be much appreciated; and Mr. Tony Geoghegan and Ms Denise Casement are here today from Merchant's Quay Ireland and I thank them for coming in to the committee.  I will invite each group to make a five minute presentation giving the committee the main points of their submission. There will be a question and answer session with members. This will be an interesting session. Members will not make speeches - they should keep them for the Dáil and the Seanad.

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