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LAST WEEK, MINISTER for Justice Simon Harris made several critical and morally charged statements about ‘recreational’ drug use. He also announced an increase in anti-drug policing operations to catch recreational users and dealers in pubs and nightclubs.
That this intervention coincides with the announcement of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use is something of a contradiction. It does not appear to be underpinned by a considered piece of work by the Policing Authority, the Department of Justice, or even An Garda Síochána – whose silence is noteworthy.
Indeed, this is not based on the best available evidence of harm reduction or policing practice, but on politics.
We must always support those with addiction & take a compassionate, health-led approach. But equally we must call out so called casual drug taking in social settings & be clear on the links between it and funding criminal gangs to inflict misery, violence & pain in communities pic.twitter.com/KTcz0v4dy0
— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) February 19, 2023
At this critical moment for Irish drug policy reform, we must explore the lack of evidence for Minister Harris’s approach, and challenge the claim that people who use drugs bear a high level of moral responsibility for drug-related violence.
Placing ‘undercover’ (i.e. plain clothes) Gardaí in locations where drugs are believed to be consumed is not new. For example, Gardaí undertake drug detection operations at music festivals like Electric Picnic. Many people are prosecuted for possession of prohibited drugs at these events.
Yet, there is no evidence that enforcement reduces drug consumption or improves health at music festivals. A growing number of TDs, including the Minister for Justice himself, acknowledge that using the police and criminal courts to respond to drug use does not reduce harm.
If there is no evidence that such operations are beneficial, then why do Gardaí invest their limited resources in this way?
Ignoring the (strong) possibility that Gardaí are well-meaning but unaware of evidence, there are other possible if cynical, rationales for such widespread police tactics.
What these routine Garda operations do guarantee is significant levels of drug offence ‘detection.’
For offences reported by victims, there is usually a significant gap between the number of complaints and the offences solved. But drug sellers and users do not complain about their offences to the Gardaí. This means that for Garda crime statistics, drug ‘detections’ give Gardaí an almost perfect crime resolution rate.
Like other jurisdictions, Garda performance is routinely evaluated by crude detection rates. This approach is problematic for several reasons, not least the unreliability of police statistics. It also assumes that the police should prioritise ‘crime fighting’ over proactive community engagement.
Finally, it creates perverse incentives to focus on ‘easy wins’ (such as catching drug users at festivals or in clubs), rather than resourcing more complex, but less quantifiable, activities, such as preventing domestic abuse or building relationships with minority ethnic communities.
The Minister claimed there is a “direct link” between “snorting a line or taking a pill and murder, assault, criminality and misery.” Plenty of violence is linked to the black market in drugs like cocaine, MDMA and cannabis.
However, it is as superficial here to blame individual consumers, as it is to blame consumers of clothing, technologies or food for the violence, abuse and exploitation in their supply chains.
Is the objective of the Minister’s comments perhaps to reduce demand for drugs by making consumers feel guilty and ashamed?
There have also been efforts to shame consumers for the harms in the supply chains of the legal products named above. Despite significant investment, these campaigns have not eradicated exploitative and abusive conditions in those ‘legitimate’ markets. Furthermore, there is no evidence that this effectively reduces demand in black markets.
Ignoring the question of effectiveness at reducing demand, is it a sound moral criticism to say that people who use drugs are implicated in murder?
On its face, like with consumption of cheap clothing made through exploitative labour practices, drug users are certainly in some way complicit in related violence. Still, the rampant violence and exploitation associated with illegal drug markets is intimately connected to their illegality.
That some drugs can only be produced, traded and consumed illegally is a policy choice. We know from decades of research that the ‘war on drugs’ itself is the cause of many of the most severe harms.
As such, the Irish State and other Governments are deeply implicated in drug violence by pursuing policies of prohibition.
Governments, like Minister Harris’s, routinely defend their prohibitionist record by claiming they have to criminalise drugs to protect public health.
However, the evidence is overwhelming that prohibition has failed to protect public health. For example, were harm reduction and decriminalisation pursued, we would expect to see fewer overdoses and drug related deaths, less disease transmission and a reduction in drug users in prisons. Efforts to establish effective harm reduction services might face fewer obstacles.
Some in the Irish Government might argue that prohibition was still the best policy option available when initiated. But when Ireland passed the Misuse of Drugs Act in 1977 – our first step into the ‘war on drugs’ – there was powerful evidence from the US’s experimentation with alcohol prohibition that criminalisation failed on public health and safety grounds.
Consumption continued, and health outcomes remained poor due to black market preferences for higher-potency alcohol products. Alcohol prohibition in the US 100 years ago also created a highly lucrative, violent black market, enriching those who formed the ‘organised crime’ mafia gangs. This pattern has been repeated on a global, and far more destructive, scale over the five-decades long ‘war on drugs’.
Others will argue that prohibition was, and remains, the right policy choice because drugs and drug-taking are evil.
The view that drug use is intrinsically evil originates from the same religious puritanism that drove the US’s temperance movement, which led to its prohibition of alcohol from 1920–32. The aim of this moral position is a utopian ‘drug-free world’.
This view is far less popular in Ireland now than in the recent past as most now recognise it is unachievable, and for some it is undesirable. However, the minister’s “frustration” at the alleged “growing social acceptance” of illegal drug consumption suggests that politicians still feel an urge to pander to those who hold such beliefs.
Yet, drug use long predated criminalisation: cocaine was once accessible from pharmacies in many jurisdictions, and some drugs we know as illicit today were only criminalised in the lifetimes of some readers.
For some ‘drug free world’ advocates, the evil lies in the intrinsic harmfulness of the substances we criminalise. However, there is no strong relationship between the dangerousness of a substance and its legal status. Potentially dangerous substances such as morphine are legal to obtain – under strict clinical conditions.
Is any TD in the debate on the drugs citizens assembly going to say that there is actually such a thing as non problematic drug use. Like it or not many people use drugs for recreation and actually enjoy themselves while doing so. Why are TDs afraid of this truth?
— Luke 'Ming' Flanagan (@lukeming) February 21, 2023
Meanwhile, most Irish people who consume illegal drugs never develop problematic use.
Indeed - though it is taboo to point out - for many of these hundreds of thousands of Irish people, their ‘recreational’ drug use was an enjoyable and valuable experience.
Aside from these criticisms of Minister Harris’s comments, they come at a particularly unhelpful moment. The forthcoming Citizens’ Assembly is a significant opportunity to re-evaluate our legal and social response to drugs and depart from the destructive failure of the ‘war on drugs.’
If the Government wishes to contribute constructively to that debate, it should stick to the evidence. If it wishes to blame consumers for drug violence, it should first acknowledge its central role in creating and perpetuating the black market in drugs.
Dr Cian Ó Concubhair is Assistant Professor in Criminal Justice at Maynooth University School of Law and Criminology. Dr Ian D. Marder is Assistant Professor in Criminology at Maynooth University School of Law and Criminology. Declaration of Interests: Dr Cian Ó Concubhair was convicted of cannabis cultivation for sale or supply in 2010.
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She outright lied on sworn testimony- that’s completely unacceptable.
@Ben Fede: I agree. That said if it’s a case that every politician who lied can no longer run… well, may I suggest Mr. O’Dowd lead by example.
@Ben Fede:
Hope she stands.
Hope
@Brinster:
Hope she stands and hope she gets rejected.
Actually hope she gets humiliated.
@Ben Fede: It’s about time that perjury ( in this case lying in the context of an affidavit) should be a criminal offence. That woman will never get elected again. She’s shameful.
@Aine Power: And Josepha M isn’t far behind her. Big attempt by FG at a cover up here. A save Josepha job by Leo. Don’t forget this one.
@Billy McNamara: Absolutely. She advised Maria Bailey that she had a case and it’s reasonable to say would have given her advice on what to ask for and say. Josepha M is now hiding behind privilege and refusing to say anything, I suppose there’s a good side to everything.
@Ben Fede: id say Fg had a good think over the weekend and decided to let Bailey take the hit so as to remove pressure from Madigan…Losing a minister at this point would not look good for our beloved..
@Ben Fede: find a politican who has never lied before …
No October fest or playgrounds for kids because of her and the like of her.
If she said in her affidavit that she could not run for 3months and ran a 10k 3wks later am I mistaken r is that a lie, this was a sworn statement to tell the truth,
@Mary Bermingham: Maybe she meant 3 weeks. Easy mistake to make. Weeks, months, see how similar they sound!
@Mr Bojangles:
Hahahaha, classic.
I live in Dalkey and this is still a very regular topic of conversation. If she does stand she has a very good chance of losing her seat and damaging Mary Mitchell O Connor too. Many local people are also very disgruntled that her father was allowed to stand when it was known he did not have long left and there will be widespread anger if the seat is co-opted to his other daughter.
@Darius Guppy: I hope she runs then and neither of them get reelected. Also must the seat not be filled soon, she wont be able to take it while in the Dail and there’s no election being called just yet.
@Darren Byrne: it is his other daughter, he actually has five daughters.
@Darius Guppy: I would be really surprised if she was selected to run in the next GE. Her political career is done.
@CrabaRev: she’s already selected, is she not? They need to de-select her.
@Darius Guppy: needs 5 swings so!!
@James Wallace: Perhaps. I don’t know. I cannot see her being allowed to run for Fine Gael again.
Not sure she’d get many votes even if she did.
@Olive Whyte: well she did manage to show Leo up for the coward he really is , If she is so innocent give the hotel the OK to release the CCTV and let us all see just how negligent the Hotel was ….
@Daithi Ó Raghallaigh: All in good time.. When the time is right..
its the dock she should be standing -not elections !
@Eric Davies: its the dock she should be standing in -not an election !
About time one of the party broke ranks on this.
@James Wallace: what are you on about
@Den Henry:
You’re hardly having trouble interpreting that now, are ya?
@Den Henry: it’s not rocket science, then again maybe it is to you, everything seems to go over your head. So I’ll explain in simple words what I mean.
When it first broke about her dodgy claim, FG tds stayed quiet and said nothing. Last week, Leo released a statement in an attempt to whitewash. With me so far, Den?
The Leo statement was, as I’ve said, an attempt to whitewash this and bury it. ‘Move on, nothing to see here’ was the message. Again, FG TDs stayed quiet and said nothing. Until now, when one of them has finally broken rank and criticised her and indirectly, his party leader.
Got it, now?
@James Wallace: are you a blue shirt
@Den Henry: like I said, everything seems to go over your head.
Let the voters of Dun Laoghaire decide her fate as a T D. After all it was they who elected get in the first place. My feeling is that they will reject her as an honest, trustworthy representative, when the time comes and at the same time teach Fine Gael a lesson that they don’t seem to understand the outrage that she has caused.
Lets not forget our good friend in Malahide, Mr. Alan Farrell TD Fine Gael for attempting to defraud Hertz out of €15,000 for person injuries for a minor dent to his Audi A6, Invoice damages estimate €882, which he subsequently withdrew. The judge on the day reduced the damages to €2,500 and he was delighted to stick this in his back pocket. Subsequently, on RTE Prime Time he was confronted about these allegations and refused to comment. He was seen up an ESB pool a few weeks later posing for a photograph for election. He was also heavily involved in a rugby game, despite his assertion that he would have been out of commission for 18 months.
Its imperative that the electorate remove this legislator and compo cheat from his position in the next general election. ( no affiliation with any political party ).
@Patrick Wall: +1
A politician milking the system? Never. You know they spent 233k on bar booze in ten months which we footed?
@Cat K.: and that’s subsidised too, you know because they can’t afford to pay the prices they decide the rest of us should pay.
As much as i detest FG, i say let her run and let FG lose a seat, as opposed to letting another FG candidate win a seat.
She should actually run. Leo said this is acceptable for FG, so let’s see what the public think. She’ll probably get elected in dun laoighaire, but it would impact everyone else’s votes.
@Renton Burke: I don’t think she’d get elected in Dun Laoghaire, but agree she should run.
AM I correct in this? Maria Bailey’s took her chances and she’s now on a losing streak. Leo has only taken a cushy role from her. He’s supported Josepha Madigan as having nothing to do with the case while Madigan’s legal firm stood to get paid 11500 euro for acting on behalf of Bailey.
It seems the hubris has not been washed from Leinster House. Children’s hospital budget is a shambles, as is health and housing. Government is in debt forever and they want to put €3bn into rural broadband.
The pension I’ve been paying into for 30 years may not be given to me if I’m means tested and considered to be ineligible. While some previous government ministers draw several pensions.
All this while they plan to vandalise the city by cutting down thousands of trees to make room for more buses. God help any FG rep that comes to my door during an election campaign. Maria Bailey just lit the match that has shone a light on how inept and self entitled these people are.
neither should joseph a madigan or alan farrell
What about Alan Farrell, why is he being excused ?.
She sat on a swing without holding on and fell. Most of us would have left it at that. But she decided that it wasn’t her fault and sued. These are the only important facts in this. Everyone knows this, and I therefore hope that people remember this come the next election if she is still on the ticket.
Brass neck asking for 20,000 up front. Tony Soprano wouldn’t do that….
This one should be expelled from FG.
Agree with Fergus–she has now become a liability
Maria Bailey? Ah yes, a pillock of society
Hardly short of a few Bob and she behaved like a scobie. Gluttony, plain and simple and there is another td that should be ashamed of the “advice” she gave. Disgusting bunch of parasites. Leo with his lovely socks too soft and well.
Of course she should stand – representing as she does the values of many of our politicians, legal profession and general members of our society.
Whether anyone should vote for her is entirely a different matter.
She’ll sue him for saying that…
I think she should resign along with varadeker, Harris, Murphy, Paschal, Hogan, Regina, Shit I can’t think of all of their names but I,m sure you get my jist.
Alan Farrell should not be permitted to stand either. Another FG insurance fraudster.
Ah here now. She has been vilified on social media? What more punishment do you want? Someone even made an edited clip with her repeating Sean Orourke’s name. It made her sound very silly and is very unfair treatment for a loyal party member.
@thephantomshit: yes she has been vilified enough. She made a mistake. She wasn’t advised very well. She was dishonest and for a person in the public eye and in government she can’t be seen to be seen to get away with it. She should step down and get on with her life.
@thephantomshit: Are u for real – public rep filled out an disingenuous affidavit and we expected to feel sorry for her. She brought all this negative publicity upon herself.
If the shoe was on the other foot she would be quick to point the finger at others less Fortunate than herself
@Caoimhín O’Cheallacháin: She committed a crime, not just a mistake. A crime that runs parallel to a serious issue facing taxpayers today and a serious issue that the government is supposed to be addressing on our behalf, that’s their job. Also she has never been short of a few bob so committing fraud to the tune of tens of thousands is just greed and corruption. Get her out of public office, she doesn’t belong there and she is free to make a living in the private sector if they will have her. Her father also has form in this regard, he is also a public servant and as mentioned above only ran in the last local elections so that they could nab the seat via a co-opt. She and her ilk represent everything that is wrong with Irish politics, good riddance to bad rubbish and hopefully that opens the door to getting rid of many more of them.
@Martin Brennan: A swing and a miss. For clarity I do not like Maria Bailey.
These people are supposed to be beyond reproach and lead by example,
And yeh when they are caught out the spin machine kicks in,
Personally she or Fine Gael won’t be getting my vote if she stands.
All politicians are liar’s just making a scapegoat out of her because they think there’s going to be a election
@Margaret Kane: remember leo telling the nation “when people commit insurance fraud -they put THEIR hands in YOUR pockets ” ? so she is not just a lier- but also a fraudster ! – you try diddling the insurance companies and see if you get to stay out of mountjoy !
@Eric Davies: Put Alan Farrel in your statement as well.
@Eric Davies: we also know Leo is a liar and insurance companies were robbing people before this happened
She SHOULD stand for election, and her constituents should decide whether or not she retains her seat.
To make a decent party out of Fine Gael you need to get rid of a lot more then two
Shur we all know where fine gael priorities lie don’t we…
jokes with sworn testimony can end badly…..
Should have said “elected her”
I think Maria lost the run of herself and probably had influences in her life that she should have ignored..I say forgive her and hopefully she will learn because we all make mistakes in life.
@Marty from Sligo: yeah, someone put a gun to her head to ask for that 20grand.
@Marty from Sligo: ‘lost the run of herself’? apparently, this was done on the advice of madigan. neither of them had lost the run of themselves. they just wanted to create an opportunity for self enrichment at our expense. remember that teh law firm would also benefit financially from this, not just bailey herself
@Marty from Sligo: She hasn’t actually apologised and admitted she made a mistake though, has she? Still playing the victim last I heard, dropped the case due to public pressure and investigations.
@Marty from Sligo: Jesus would be proud of you. As for learning from her mistake… next time she sits on a swing she will put her drinks down , and she will say look what happened the last time.
It’s very obvious she should not stand.
The question shouldn’t even arise.
Im no fan of FG and it SEEMS FG are using this to defect from very ongoing serious issues and ongoing scandals affecting society&I do think that’s unfair to Maria.They did so after local elections when they just regained 20 seats out of the 100 seats they lost in 2014 local elections!
She made errors of judgement(& not the 1st politician to do that& definitely not excusing that) and these would have been discussed in a court setting ,and judgement /consequences made accordingly.It feels uncomfortable to witness FG being judge and jury in this case instead.Also have other politicians been asked not to run in elections?
As Pierce Doherty uncovered, there’s very little fraud re insurance cases therefore not the cause of insurance costs increases.
@Nuala Mc Namara: stop talking absolute rubbish, you sound like a member of FG when you spout that nonsense “a serious error in judgement” she lied, a down right lie, it wasn’t an error,, it was a thought out process on her behalf, she said she received advice,, but she was still the one who chose to take it, and it was all just to add more money to her bank balance, but she got caught, then in the way that only the most self entitled arrogant people can, went and blamed everyone else involved bar herself, she and others just like her are the reason that ordinary hard working people hate politics and politicians, and when they see her receiving a slap on the wrist and nothing else happening I hope they make other FG candidates pay for it in when they run in future elections.
@Devilsavocado: Can you not see that if case had proceeded to court there could have been real financial etc repercussions if judge thought case was exaggerated? However she halted the case once it became public &FG became judge and jury resulting in just ‘slap on the wrist’(&really denying her opportunity to have her case assessed by a court& judge)….which is exactly the point I’m trying to make!
Also the spin machine keeping this story in the spotlight which is deflecting from even more serious issues,eg yesterday more RTE revelations re cervical screening scandal but most of the media didn’t even mention it(disgusted by that!)…..instead focusing on Maria Bailey!
We have National emergencies in homelessness, housing and health( as well as other scandals) which should be the main focus for voters& we shouldn’t be desensitizes by the spin machine deflection!
I’m not a FG supporter & I won’t be deflected!You should read Gene Kerrigan’s article in Sunday Indo!
@Nuala Mc Namara: By the way ‘errors of judgement’ means poor decisions…..do you disagree!?
I absolutely don’t agree with FG policies but I feel very uncomfortable with the ongoing vilification of Maria Bailey& i feel very uncomfortable with it deflecting from extremely serious issues affecting society especially women and children.
@Nuala Mc Namara: Speaking re deflection….. where will June’s official homeless figures be released…..late again!
A bit mean kicking her when she is down….
@iComment: What now or after she “fell” from the swing?
She shouldn’t stand she hurt her back on the swing remember
I’ll translate the politician-speak: I’m worried about a voter backlash ( resulting from the Maria Bailey controversy ) that could either cost me my Dail seat, or make it harder to get re-elected, in the forthcoming general election. If she doesn’t run for election then this threat to my re-election can be reduced, since the issue will have drifted away from public awareness.
Taking the case was certainly Bailey’s Ratner moment her political career is finished as soon as there is a general election
U
I’ve no affiliation to Miss Bailey nore would I vote for any one in FG, but i have to say they are such a dis.gusting party her father gave his life to building and maintaining support in South Dublin. They have no loyalty at all to the people who work for them
1) What was the Hotel doing having a swing inside – feed up the punters with drink then let them off on a swing – mad idea 2) Entitled to take a case if you are hurt because of someone else’s negligence 3) Solicitor takes instructions – hard to know if a client is lying – if a solicitor becomes aware of fraud must withdraw from case 4) Maria Bailey lied on affidavit and that is totally unacceptable and she should be thrown out of seat and party 5) See in comments that a male FG TD may have been in a somewhat similar situation. If it is a woman then the witch hunting mob really go for it in a way you don’t see happening to a man 6) Can’t stand these inherited seat situations – not a kingdom.
Why shouldn’t she represent fine gael b in the next election? Isn’t she showing her constituents how to get on in fine gael Ireland? Does the government have several departmentsof fraud administration?
Get rid of her. She’s another example of Fianna gael politician. A lying thief …
Weak Leo. Another step towards a FF GOV.
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