Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I like to listen to the room before I contribute. I thank the witnesses for the presentations. I think most people are on the same page when it comes to where we want things to go or where we think things should be. Logistically, realising that is a bit more difficult. Ms Collins mentioned intimidation and the need for us to have an honest conversation about that or about drug-related violence. The witnesses have long known my thoughts on that, which are that drug dealing stems from the very same social conditions drug using does, meaning it is about unconditional support regardless of what type of activity a person is engaged in. That is a conversation we have been having at a community level for many years. It also translates into the prison system as well, given what Ms Collins said, in terms of the structures needed in the community. The exact same structures are needed in the prison system, but that system also has obviously got the extra layer of what it is required to do in the sense of people's liberty being taken away and their not being there by consent. Introducing any sort of recovery models or access to things is looking for the same outcome in very different ways, but still both looking for a place where increased safety exists in communities and in prisons with the reduction of violence in both spaces.

That has me thinking about what a health-led model would look like. I visualise it much more clearly in the community because that is where I am used to working, but the witnesses have a different experience given they are used to working in a place where security is also paramount and how those things are in tension somewhat with each other. In a health-led approach or one where we have decriminalisation, the prison would still have to be managed in a way that meant there were was not substance use as such. The substance would still be illegal. Alongside the recovery model, which is great, and the DCU link and the relationship with Merchants Quay Ireland, I am wondering how the balance can be struck between security and rehabilitation. I mean rehabilitation not only with respect to behavioural matters, but also the substance use itself. Have the witnesses had an opportunity to look forward to the next five years were possession to not be illegal? Do we remove a punishment model when somebody is caught in possession where we remove the substance, but there are no repercussions for the possession itself if that is in line with policy on the outside? With alcohol, is someone punished if they are found making alcohol in cells or is it just taken off them?