Results 441-460 of 1,041,607 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Ruairi Ó Murchú OR speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill OR speaker:Michael McNamara OR speaker:Mary Lou McDonald) in 'Committee meetings'

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: So it is, basically a victimless crime argument more than the deterrent argument. Is that what Professor Stevens is focusing on?

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: I take that argument. Professor Stevens posited sexual offences crimes as an example and explained why it is not a comparator. Relatively recently in Ireland we criminalised end users of prostitution. As a criminologist, is that something the professor would comment on? There is a debate as to whether people who provide sexual services for money are coerced or whether it is a free market...

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: Professor Stevens said that we should not increase the punishment for any offence if the punishment is causing harm and there is no evidence that the increase in punishment is actually acting as a deterrent. Again, there is a recent proposal - not unique to Ireland - for mandatory sentences for knife crimes. Is there again an analogy to be drawn in that regard?

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: Okay, but you are making that argument specifically in the case of drugs possession, I understand.

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: Ms Eastwood, I see you want to come in. Maybe you want to answer those questions, but there is one other specific question I want to ask you. You have talked about reducing the impact on the rights of drug users. Drug users are criminals at the moment in Ireland because it is an offence, but is there, in your view, a right to use drugs? I appreciate that reducing the impact on the rights...

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: To proceed a little on that point, you talked about the right to do something with your body once it does not cause a greater societal harm. Some medics argue that the use of drugs is inherently dangerous and leads to societal ills. We will hear from some of those medics. We will also hear from medics who may not share that viewpoint. It is a medical debate. Leaving that aside, one of...

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: Lastly - I appreciate we have gone over time - Ms Lawlor, one of the ills you sought to have combated by decriminalisation was that young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, are led into the illicit world of trading in drugs. Does it follow that that will be countered only by a legalisation, not just a decriminalisation? A decriminalisation will tacitly accept that a...

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: Thank you, Ms Lawlor. I appreciate, Professor Stevens, that you did not come back in but I also appreciate that earlier you made the point that you do not necessarily share those views on this issue. I will go around for a further round. I think there are five Members present, so we will go for a full seven minutes each. I think we have the time. Maybe we will have even more time if...

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: Does somebody else want to come in there?

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: To respond to what Senator Ruane said, the citizens' assembly made a recommendation that we decriminalise and we have to give a reasoned response-----

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: It also made a recommendation that we not legalise, albeit by a narrow majority. The margin does not matter; that was their recommendation and we have to give a reasoned response to that, too. The other discussion feeds into our ability to provide a reasoned response to that. It was not just a flight of fancy.

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: I will go to Deputy Ward unless somebody has to go to another committee.

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: I have a follow-up to what Deputy Gould was asking. Is there a greater prevalence of drug use among young people or people generally in disadvantaged communities relative to more affluent communities-----

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: -----or is it just that more affluent communities are better placed to deal with the negative effects of drug use or abuse? I do not know if it is a question that the witnesses could answer. Ms Lawlor has already said "No".

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: They do not get policed.

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: I have one question, which is an extension of the line of questioning I was pursuing earlier. It is around the objectives of criminal law, which include deterrence, rehabilitation and so on. By our failure to condemn, we condone. The argument about decriminalisation is well made. It is still a tacit acceptance that there will be a market for what are now prescribed drugs and, in the...

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: If Professor Stevens takes the view, as he has argued cogently, that there is a large market in drugs and that it is simply there whether we choose to acknowledge the reality or not, should that be legalised and controlled in the way legal drugs are, or should it continue to be proscribed and outside of the reach of the State?

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Michael McNamara: I thank Professor Stevens, Ms Eastwood and Ms Lawlor, who appeared at short notice, for joining us and staying with us. I propose we briefly move into private session.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Damien English: I hope it will not be my last.