Although only 87 assembly members voted in the final vote on their ultimate recommendations to the Oireachtas on Ireland’s future drug policy, they were thoughtful and measured in their decision to back a comprehensive health-led approach to this country’s policies on illegal drug use, rather than retain the status quo.

That almost twice as many assembly members saw fit to back that recommendation rather than simply accepting the laws as they now exist is an indication of the need for fresh ideas when it comes to a problem which has by now seeped into every facet of life in this country.

Illegal drug use is a scourge on society, with massive implications for the wellbeing of the nation in terms of gangsterism, violence, and day-to-day mayhem, but the 85% of assembly members who believe the current criminal approach to personal possession should no longer stand have voiced a progressive and honest opinion.

The assembly was evenly divided on the question of the legalisation of cannabis — making it legal to sell and therefore regulated and taxed by the State, as has happened in so many states in the US and in Canada — and just one vote separated the two opinions on the matter.

The outcome of that vote does not really matter as the recommendations of the assembly will now be sent to the Oireachtas for a decision, but the fact that these discussions have taken place and that much thought was put into the issues at hand is progressive and welcome.

This was the most thorough and tough examination of the State’s existing drug laws and the recommendations from it — and their implications for Irish society — should be considered in the Oireachtas in the same mature and thoughtful manner.

Misogyny is holding back EU reform

Gender-based violence is a feature in too many lives across the world right now and efforts to legislate strongly to protect victims are welcome.

Unfortunately, differing attitudes towards sexual violence — and in particular the heinous crime of rape — mean that, in different countries, the attitudes towards perpetrators and victims alike differ greatly.

Those differences have surfaced across the EU in recent months as efforts to introduce new laws to protect citizens against gender violence and, specifically, rape have been met with a lack of both enthusiasm and urgency. This is a situation which needs to be tackled head-on and without delay.

The shilly-shallying of several EU states with regard to the introduction of an EU-wide consent-based definition of rape, based on a legal argument that the crime does not fall under the banner of sexual exploitation, is neither valid nor acceptable.

MEP Frances Fitzgerald is one of this country’s longest-serving female politicians. A former tánaiste, minister for justice, and minister for children and equality, she is a senior and respected voice in this debate. When she says words are not being matched by actions across Europe, the veracity of her words need not be questioned.

Along with fellow European parliamentarian Evin Incir of Sweden, Ms Fitzgerald is leading the push to bring in EU-wide legislation aimed at tackling domestic violence and violence against women. The two MEPs have introduced draft legislation which would make rape, sexual assault, and cyberstalking crimes which are applicable across the EU.

Their efforts are being frustrated by some EU states that appear to be conflicted on the issue and appear to feel any new legislation should concentrate solely on sexual exploitation issues as those concerning trafficking.

Patently, this is not the case and while the vacillation of countries such as Poland and Hungary might have been predictable, that of France and Germany is not and needs to be addressed.

One would have thought the EU as a whole has by now shed previously accepted patriarchal and misogynistic attitudes but it seems it has not. That needs to change.

Not on, Norton

As a native of Bandon and a homeowner on the Sheep’s Head peninsula in West Cork, television star Graham Norton will be only too well aware of the power of native Irish pride.

He will have been aware, too, of the dismay created in Fermoy when it was described last week on his hugely popular talk show as a “horrible, horrible town”,

That this assertion was made by an outsider — a Scottish woman called Zoe who claimed to have lived in this country for 20 years when she appeared on the Red Chair segment of Norton’s show where people tell funny, or tall tales — did not go unnoticed by the denizens of Fermoy.

Indeed, the comments sparked a typically ferocious Irish reaction. It was with more than a little relief and no little gratitude, therefore, when Norton took the opportunity to apologise to Fermoy on his show last Friday.

We Irish are a proud people and Fermoy natives no different to the rest of us and petty, unwarranted slights never go down well. That Norton parlayed a tricky slight into something much more positive was welcome and timely.