DERMOT AHERN: I speak with some experience, as former justice minister, about the fight against criminal gangs involved in the drug trade... Here's why the madcap suggestion to decriminalise should die a very quick death

Published: 23:37, 28 June 2026 | Updated: 23:37, 28 June 2026 Well, they certainly didn’t pick a particularly good week to publish their report! The cross party Joint Committee on Drugs Use last week delivered their final report calling, among other recommendations, for the possession of drugs for personal use, including heroin and cocaine, to be allowed! It just happened to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the shocking murder of Veronica Guerin by thugs who dominated the drugs trade at the time in Ireland! The committee took its lead from the 2024 Citizens Assembly report on drugs which proposed the decriminalisation of drugs for personal use. In fairness, the committee’s report contained 160 other recommendations which correctly stressed the need for more focus on rehabilitation. The committee maintains that international evidence suggests that decriminalisation is unlikely to lead to an increase in consumption. Though it did accept that, in a small sample of jurisdictions, where drug use was decriminalised, there was an increase of drug use in public places. It felt that this could be dealt with by implementing bye-laws similar to public drinking bans. But, its suggestion that all personal drug use be allowed has drawn widespread criticism from leading medical experts and other health professionals in this area. The head of the Irish Medical Organisation Professor Matthew Sadlier said that blanket removal would be very dangerous! He cited Lisbon where he said that decriminalisation has led to people pushing drugs on the streets to anyone passing by! Justice Minister, Jim O’Callaghan, urged caution, referring to the experience in Canadian British Columbia which, after a three-year trial, reversed its policy of decriminalisation, which had led to an increase in public drug use. I have not seen, so far, any comments from leading figures in the Garda Siochána. But, I doubt that any experienced member of the gardaí would back the suggestion of decriminalising drug use. If we want to get an inkling of what our current gardaí think about a proposal such as this, I would suggest people just listen back to the interview given to RTÉ recently by retired Assistant Garda Commissioner Tony Hickey, one of the finest public servants I came across in my political career. He was commenting on the 30th anniversary of Veronica Guerin’s killing, and the Garda and State response to same. He said that the criminal gangs involved in bringing drugs into the country have the attitude that there is a market to be supplied, and that no matter what type of drug, be it cannabis, cocaine, heroin, or something else, that they would supply it. He said that the problem with people using drugs for recreational use is that they never think from where, and how, the drugs are coming into our country. And, how much grief and damage this leads to. He said the gangs involved don’t spare a thought about who suffers in the production, or distribution, of drugs. In the end, he said, it was all about money and power! He agreed that, at the time, the murder of Veronica Guerin was 'not good for business' in the drug trade. Anyone who gets in their way is fair game. As Veronica Guerin did! There are many other examples of the callousness of drug gangs. Noel Kirwan was murdered in 2016, as an easy target, by the Kinahan gang for no reason other than to get revenge on his childhood friend Gerry Hutch. Kirwan’s only 'crime' was to be photographed beside Hutch at a funeral. I speak with some experience about the fight against criminal gangs involved in the drug trade. Early on in my stint as Justice Minister from 2008 to 2011, I was confronted with open warfare between rival drug gangs in the Limerick area. In November 2008, rugby player Shane Geoghegan was murdered by a junior member of a drugs gang, in a tragic case of mistaken identity. In April 2009, Roy Collins was callously murdered just because he refused a drink in his bar to an underage female family member of a leading drug baron in the area. The situation in that area was out of control in that two drug cartels were fighting over territory and supply lines. The State responded with significant force. The area was saturated with specialist gardaí. We passed legislation specifically to follow the leaders of the gangs, rather than the foot soldiers, most of whom were sent out to murder, high as kites on drugs. We dramatically changed our laws on surveillance to give the gardaí far more power and cover to track, and crack the gang structures. We tweaked some laws at the specific behest of gardaí in the Limerick area who felt that their hands were tied behind their backs from a prosecution point of view. Especially to protect jurors who had been intimidated by the criminals involved. To this day, these law changes are having a significant impact on the fight against crime gangs involved in the drug trade. But, as was said to me by a leading member of Garda management at the time, the gangs are always six months ahead of us, changing their modus operandi depending on how the State responds. For instance, so-called tiger kidnappings are virtually a thing of the past, mainly because of the fact that significant resources and investment has been put in by the gardaí and the banks to make such crimes more difficult. Equally ATM robberies are not as frequent as before because preventative measures were implemented by banks in conjunction with the gardaí. But the fact is that the gangs just move on to a different prey. It’s exactly the same with the drug trade. Tony Hickey denounced the perception that 'everyone' is taking drugs! He maintained that, at most, it was 10% of the population, but that we have to have a decent society, with law and order! I’ve no doubt that people currently in the gardaí with the experience of the likes of Tony Hickey would be implacably against the decriminalisation of drugs for personal use. Changing policy in this area which will undoubtedly lead to extra demand will only play into the hand of the suppliers, namely the criminal underworld. In a perfect world, maybe, we might be able to consider decriminalising all personal use of drugs. Alas, we don’t have such a utopia. Buying drugs, whether legal or otherwise, has consequences. For the end user. But also for all of those involved, from the start of production, right through the supply chain. Experience and history show that the path in drug use is lined with tragedy and despair. Thankfully, the proposal by this Oireachtas Committee has been given short shrift' by the government. The Minister for Drugs Strategy, Jennifer Murnane O’Connor was out fast to say that there were no plans to change existing policies in this area. She has said that State authorities will continue to deal with people caught with drugs for personal use with a health-led approach. Tánaiste Simon Harris was even more categorical. He said that recreational use of drugs should not be decriminalised, adding that it fuelled gangland crime. In my view, decriminalising drug use would be a boon for the criminal gangs involved in the trade. Quite apart from the totally wrong message it would give to wider society. I don’t give in for one minute to the suggestion that drug use is solely a public-health issue. Of course, anyone who is addicted, or is on the way to addiction, has to be dealt properly by our welfare and health services. But, stopping the supply, and the criminality that that involves, also, has to be addressed. The sooner this mad-cap suggestion dies a death, the better. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.