Debate contribution: Sentencing: Drug Dealing

Debate contribution by Mr Robbie Butler on 21 April 2026.

MLA

Mr Robbie Butler

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

21 April 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Sentencing: Drug Dealing

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5498115

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am going to do this slightly back to front. Usually, when we make a winding-up speech, we wait until the last part of our speech to credit those who have spoken, but I will do that first because I thought that an incredible amount of very powerful testimony was delivered today. I will reference Pauline Duddy, who, evidently, is in the Public Gallery. Every Member who spoke paid tribute to Pauline's courage, tenacity and bravery in trying to get us as legislators to agree that Jasmin's law is absolutely worthy not just of consideration but of application at the appropriate time. I do believe that it will happen. I think that it was Órlaithí Flynn, from Sinn Féin, who said that Pauline does not speak for just herself and Jasmin but for the many families who have had that misery heaped upon them.

I thank the mover of the motion, Mr Mark Durkan. He started by talking powerfully about the profit from misery and the exploitation of the vulnerable. I think that Pauline must be from his constituency, so I thank him for his work on that. Sometimes in debates, people pop up, and you just know that they are absolutely interested in the topic. I sit on some all-party groups with a number of Members — the mental health all-party group, the addiction and dual diagnosis all-party group and the suicide prevention all-party group — and those Members are the very people who are here today. They are here for the victims but they want to see justice. A point that my party colleague made was that we are here to serve the public, but what do the public think when they see a sentence handed down to someone who dealt drugs that led to a death? Rightly so, they are never happy. That is why the debate is happening. I thank my colleague Doug Beattie, who sits on the Justice Committee, for his articulate moving of the amendment, which does bring value because it points out that we are not reinventing the wheel. In other jurisdictions, there is a sentencing council, which should perhaps be looked at. Emma Sheerin, thank you very much for rightly pointing out that this is not just an urban problem. I was here during the previous debate, when you pointed out that perhaps e-scooters were not such a big problem in the countryside, but drugs are nefarious. They leach into every aspect of our community, and where the vulnerable reside, the pushers will go. It is as simple as that. Paul Frew, Chair of the Justice Committee, was very good. He talked about how dealers prey on the vulnerable and our young people. He introduced a concept that was new to me, which was to be smart on crime rather than simply being tougher. Connie Egan, thank you again, and Órlaithí and Cheryl Brownlee, again, thank you for your contributions. Speaking as someone who once worked in Maghaberry prison and understood that there were people who ended up in prison, not just the pushers but sometimes very vulnerable drug users, I think that we need to be sensible when we create legislation so that we do not inadvertently punish those who do not need to be punished. However, we have to be explicit and of one voice in saying that if you are a drug dealer, you are a stain on the society of Northern Ireland. You are creating victims in the very families that we represent, but your days are gone because we are going to change the response.

605 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:26 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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