The Tánaiste Let Himself Down on Drugs, says Gary Gannon of the Social Democrats

Gary Gannon of the Social Democrats has accused Tánaiste Simon Harris of “politics of the lowest form” – and of “cowardice” on the drugs issue – in a major interview in Hot Press magazine.

These sweeping criticisms of the Fine Gael leader feature in a powerful, in-depth conversation with Gannon, the Social Democrats TD for Dublin Central, who chaired the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Drugs Use Final Report.

Published on June 24th, the report “recommends the repeal of section 3 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 in order to fully decriminalise the possession of drugs for personal use.”

Talking to Hot Press deputy editor Stuart Clark about the cross-party report being instantly dismissed by Tánaiste Simon Harris, Gannon is unequivocal.

“I don’t think for a second he read it,” Gannon says. “This is where politics gets very disillusioning. Somebody else from Fine Gael asked him a question in the Dáil chamber and his reaction descended into a morality position that’s not based on evidence; that’s not based on the lived experience of people who came before the committee. It’s also not trusting of his own colleagues in Fine Gael who were on the committee.

“It’s politics of the lowest form – and of cowardice,” he added. “There’s a classist element to it and I think the Tánaiste let himself down. He didn’t demonstrate trust in his own people, which is a bad position for a leader to be in.”

Gannon, who is one of the most highly-rated TDs in the Dáil, offers further criticism of the Tánaiste’s position.

“Fine Gael present themselves as a party of law and order,” he says, “but I live in Dublin city-centre where this is a public health crisis and know that the system we have at the moment isn’t working. You don’t get to stand in the Dáil, beat your chest and play the tough guy whilst not realising we have a crisis in multiple forms here.”

Asked whether he’s taken illegal drugs himself, Gannon responds: “I talked about this at the start of the drugs committee because I just felt I had to. I did, of course… I took coke, I took tablets. I had the experience most people do; you just age out of them. I’m very conscious, though, of my responsibility and don’t want it to look like I’m normalising it because I had a relatively good experience.”

Elsewhere in his Hot Press interview, Gary Gannon speaks with equally refreshing candour on a number of vital issues.

• On the FAI’s handling – or mishandling – of the upcoming Ireland vs. Israel fixtures:
“Pathetic, genuinely pathetic,” he says. “There’s no way Israel’s flag should be flying beside ours and their national anthem playing when they’re committing genocide. I think the FAI have been cowardly beyond words."

• On the American vice-president:
“J.D. Vance,” Gannon offers, “is funded by these tech bros, who see him as the pathway to getting a sort of tech bros oligarchy.”

• On the debased state of political discourse in Ireland, as a result of social media:
“I don’t think we’re too far away from a situation like Jo Cox here,” Gannon says…

• On the rise of right-wing extremism here:
“The money’s coming from conservative elements in the US. You saw with Trump’s Project 25 how organised they are. The Steve Bannons of this world think Ireland is this place of green fields and white faces. They’re pumping money into here.”

• On seizing the assets of religious orders who’ve yet to pay compensation to the survivors of church sex abuse:
“Why wouldn’t the state be holding them to account for reparations? Frankly, some of them should have been locked up.”

• And he makes some firm policy commitments on behalf of the Social Democrats:
“A three-year rent freeze is something we’d enact straight away.”

You can read what is a very powerful and often controversial interview with Gary Gannon in the new issue of Hot Press, with CHARLIE XCX on the front cover, out Saturday 11 July…