Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Report and Final Stages Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-02 ============================================================ Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland In amendment No. 25 and the associated set of amendments, the Minister is looking to expand Garda powers under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 by allowing members of An Garda Síochána to undertake examinations and inspections of controlled substances for the purposes, specifically, of section 3 in terms of prosecution for simple possession. Presently those tests can only be undertaken in a controlled laboratory environment by a suitably qualified member of FSI. While there may be an argument for facilitating drug testing at community level from a harm-reduction perspective or a medical perspective, it is equally important to maintain an appropriately high evidentiary threshold when it comes to criminal prosecution. Earlier this week the Garda Commissioner referred to this. It came up again when my colleague, Senator Ruane, highlighted the issue with section 3. The Minister will be aware of the position taken by the drugs reform committee in respect of this. There has been a concern about section 3 and its operation. The Garda Commissioner has stated the organisation is not supportive of decriminalisation because the priority for the Government is disrupting production, supply and the organised drug market, and that the Garda does not target people for small amounts of drugs. The message has been, "Don't worry about section 3 with its focus on possession because we don't really use section 3 very much and section 3 is not a focus for us." However, in what is being introduced now, the Minister is providing additional powers in respect of prosecution and, arguably, lowering or shifting the bar for a whole other strand of evidence that can be used. It is a wider standard - a lower standard, potentially - in terms of tests administered by the gardaí, in order to make prosecutions under section 3. If you are involved in the production or supply of large amounts of drugs, then the drugs used as evidence against you will be tested by FSI, whereas if you have a small amount of cannabis resin for possession, the standard used to prosecute you is lowered to a test administered by the gardaí. It is a lower bar for evidence in order to prosecute people for simple possession than for those who may be engaged in one of the more significant offences related to production or supply of drugs. I do not see how that gels with the message that we should not be worried about section 3 because that section is never the focus. Section 3 is directly the focus of this legislation and the measures being introduced by the Minister. Will the Minister clarify why Garda powers to advance prosecutions and create a lower bar in terms of the evidence that can be used for prosecution of simple possession are being expanded when the Garda Commissioner is on the record suggesting - and this messaging has also come through from Government - possession is not the focus? The message has been that we are moving towards a harm-reduction and health-based approach to users of drugs or, in some cases, victims of drugs, rather than those involved in the industry. The Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use and the Joint Committee on Drugs Use - this is the citizens' assembly of the public and the cross-party Oireachtas joint committee - have both called for a shift to a comprehensive health-led approach to drug use and for a movement away from criminalisation and prosecution of small-scale possession for personal use as part of that. That is what the public called for and what the Oireachtas joint committee comprising members of all parties has called for, yet we have here a measure from the Minister seeking to escalate and accelerate prosecution. Otherwise, what is the delay? Why not use FSI unless the Minister anticipates such a volume that he will want to move through it quickly? It is hard to see why we would move away from the standard that is there in terms of using FSI for testing. An accelerated testing process is the only rationale I can imagine for wanting to introduce this testing by gardaí and for that testing to be used as evidence. That goes against the tide of what the public is telling us, what the Oireachtas joint committee after a year of detailed scrutiny has called for and what the Commissioner and Government have suggested. What the Minister is looking for is a new tool for the prosecution of section 3. With regard to the detail of the section, it is notable that there are measures to allow FSI and others to certify new kinds of drug tests. The Minister has to consult with FSI but ultimately still has the power to introduce new inspections or tests to be carried out on substances, where he or she is satisfied that it is appropriate to do so. There are powers for new tests to be added but I do not see powers for tests to be removed where it turns out that there are problems with them or where the director of FSI or the Minister points to issues with the quality of those tests. I do not see where tests that are of a poor standard can be removed and no longer used as evidence. Such a mechanism does not seem to be included. That may be a symptom of this being an amendment added in at the last minute. Again, had this been subject to pre-legislative scrutiny, there would have been an opportunity to hear from scientific experts as to the difference between what FSI will do and what these kinds of tests that might be applied by individual gardaí might be. Others who have much greater expertise than me or others here might have had the opportunity to fully tease out these questions, to talk about them and to provide scientific evidence. When the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Drugs Use was given the mandate and authority to examine these issues in detail, it came out in favour of a health-led approach and a move away from a prosecutorial, criminal-based approach in relation to section 3. Those who had the opportunity to examine these issues gave a message that is directly contrary to the Minister's amendment. The Minister's amendment has never benefited from proper committee scrutiny with the benefit of expert witnesses. That is why I will not be able to support it. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-02/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:09+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-02