Senator Ronan Mullen: What we need in this as in other areas is clear law that discourages certain forms of irresponsible behaviour. We have gotten to a stage where we do not want to expect people to be responsible as a matter of law for their own personal consumption habits. You hear stories, for example, of dinner parties in Dublin and people talking about the things you can order online, and we can also order this stuff. The law needs to have a clear view on that and to say this is wrong. I sometimes think that part of the dynamic behind this push for change is that some middle-class people do not want their little darlings to be on the wrong side of the law because of their personal drug consumption habits. The law needs to state this clearly. How you treat people who come before the law is where you can moderate your approach, give people a second chance and get them onto a so-called health-led approach. The term health-led is a euphemism for an abandonment of courage and principle. Of course you can have a health-led approach, but you can have an even more successful health-led approach if you back it up by clear law that prohibits having drugs for personal use, as does section 3 of the current Misuse of Drugs Act.

Senator Fiona McLoughlin: We spent a little time on Thursday last week talking about the drugs use committee and I understand there will be a debate in both Houses, and rightly so, when its report has been laid. Senator Mullen focused on only one of 161 recommendations and it is the one that is getting all the attention. The report does not call for the legalisation of drugs. It calls for the decriminalisation of the individual, which is slightly different. We need to have a clear, health-led approach, but I agree that we need to have clear laws on drugs as well. It is a complex issue and without doubt, all Members, whatever seat they sit in, want to see a situation where we are preventing addiction and helping those who have sadly fallen into addiction to recover their lives and taking the scourge of drug addiction off our streets. The consequences of crime and how families and communities are impacted are shocking. Drug selling, distribution and dealing would still be crimes under the recommendations, but they are just recommendations at this point. I agree we need to have a debate.