SECTION 7 - Debate resumed on amendment No. 6: In page 9, to delete line 5.  (Senator Lynn Ruane)

An Cathaoirleach: I welcome the Minister back to the House. He is our favourite Minister at the moment.

We are resuming on amendment No. 6. Senator Ruane was in possession when we reported progress. Amendments Nos. 6 to 13, inclusive, are related. Amendments Nos. 10 and 11 are physical alternatives to amendment No. 9. The House agreed previously that amendments Nos. 6 to 13, inclusive, would be discussed together. Does anyone else wish to speak on the amendment or the grouping?

Senator Alice-Mary Higgins: I will speak to amendment No. 6. At the end of the last debate, Senator Ruane spoke about the impact of stop and search in relation to section 3 offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977. Section 7(c) of the Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill includes controlled substances as defined by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 as a relevant article.

An Cathaoirleach: I am sorry to interrupt, Senator, but I want to remind the House that because the amendments were tabled by Senators Ruane and Black but they are not here, we must get written confirmation from them that somebody else can move their amendments. The Senator can continue speaking on amendment No. 6, which has already been moved, but that is the situation.

Senator Alice-Mary Higgins: I understood that because they were part of a grouping, I could move amendments on their behalf. I will continue speaking on amendment No. 6 for now.

Senator Ruane spoke about the impact of stop and search in relation to section 3 offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977. She highlighted the fact that the Bill included controlled substances defined by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 as a relevant article for the purposes of exercising stop and search powers. We are concerned about how this provision may be used to target people in possession of drugs for personal use, knowing the extent to which those powers are currently exercised to criminalise people who use drugs. Therefore, we are seeking to remove it through amendment No. 7. Criminalisation does not necessarily reduce drug use or stop the harmful use of drugs. It criminalises addiction and compounds the trauma and stigma of drug users. The people most likely to be caught in possession are often those who are struggling with addiction, mental illness, homelessness, chronic poverty, social discrimination, stigma and exclusion. Criminal records can have long-lasting impacts on their ability to enter education or employment and can create significant complications in the context of the custody of children, for example, and in relation to visas and immigration. Criminalisation acts as a barrier to people seeking help with their addiction and can be considered as a violation of their right to health. The interim report from the Oireachtas committee on drug use, on which Senator Ruane sits, and the citizens' assembly, in its findings, pointed to recommendations of decriminalisation in this context. The joint committee on drug uses is due to publish its final report shortly, which we hope will arrive at the same conclusion. It is not really possible to have a health-led approach to drug use without looking at these issues.

While the Government has a stated commitment to a health-led approach, the provisions of this Bill are moving in the opposite direction, expanding the scope for the continued, very large-scale prosecution of individual and minor drug users as a punitive model. Very often, they can be the easier target rather than dealing with more systemic and larger-scale offenders. Recent data released under freedom of information, FOI, requests demonstrates that violations of section 3 for simple possession can be one of the most common drugs-related offences in Ireland, making up 63% of controlled drug crime incidents. Around 4,000 convictions are handed down, with a cumulative figure of 20,000 since 2020. What this points to is a relatively low-level offence, about which there is some debate as to whether it is even appropriate to be treating it as an offence. In fact, there have been recommendations for decriminalisation coming from very significant levels and expert bodies and calls for a health-led approach. These offences are making up a huge bulk of the offences that are actually being investigated and prosecuted. There is a concern that we will see this being an excessively used component of new Garda powers.

Despite what has been asserted previously by An Garda Síochána, there has actually been extensive use of stop and search powers under section 3 to press charges against individuals in relation to simple drug possession. It is one of the easiest targets and evidence suggests that it happens most often. Data published by the Health Research Board, HRB, shows that drugs are consumed at the same rates in the top and bottom 20% of areas by wealth but the reality is that stop and search powers are presently exercised disproportionately in areas that are heavily policed and in socio-economically marginalised areas. This means that the burden of stop and search falls disproportionately on young, working class men because of stigma that surrounds them and their communities, not because there is a greater prevalence of drug use in their communities.

While it is welcome that a range of existing Garda powers will be codified into a single piece of legislation in this Bill, there is concern about the absence of proper guardrails and safeguards around how stop and search will be used, creating the potential for overuse, misuse, unequal use and, potentially, even abuse. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ICCL, has stated that the definition of "relevant article" as currently provided in the Bill risks creating a very wide legislative basis that could facilitate discriminatory enforcement by gardaí.

We have sought in this amendment to narrow the scope for these invasive powers through the removal of relevant articles in the amendments. There are a number of categories in that grouping in relation to amendment No. 6 in terms of suspected possession of stolen goods, controlled substances and a number of other aspects such as computer programmes and any other articles. I am apparently not empowered to move these amendments on behalf of Senators Ruane and Black so I am going to pass over to Senator Black to formally move them, but what Senator Ruane is pointing to is the concern that stop and search becomes disproportionately used and targeted towards certain areas for certain lower level offences and becomes a tool of potential misuse, abuse or offence rather than a thing that is used rarely and carefully in situations of very significant danger or threat....

[Click here to read the full debate on the Oireachtas website]