Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use: Motion
Dail Éireann — 2023-02-21
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Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (LAB), Dublin Bay North

We need a realistic debate. Many people from all sorts of professions, different parts of the country and various age groups are taking drugs, but we treat people from disadvantaged backgrounds differently. If you go into any court in the country, you will find it stuffed full of poor, sick people who do not belong there. Our thesis, which I think is replicated across this House, is that we can have an exclusively health-led approach to those in addiction and get rid of the criminalisation and criminal justice approach to it. We must do that, and it must happen within the lifetime of this Oireachtas. Otherwise, the body count is just going to pile higher and higher. None of us can have that on our conscience.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-02-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:36+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-02-21