ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to update information about Santo Daime in the Republic of Ireland (henceforth referred to as Ireland). The author describes the history of the migration of Santo Daime to Ireland and the arrest of a Santo Daime Commander for the possession of DMT which resulted in a pending constitutional case regarding Religious Freedom. This case was pending for several years, during which time significant changes emerged in the Irish religious field, especially as regards the reputation and standing of the institutional Irish Catholic Church, as well as social changes that moved towards a more repressive attitude to psychoactive substances. It is contended that these two trends influenced the outcome of the Constitutional Case. The author also suggests through elucidating the changes in Santo Daime ritual since 2013 that these social and religious trends have likewise influenced Santo Daime in Ireland. It is also suggested that this is as a result a “relaxing” of Catholic habitus (following Inglis’s 2004 use of Bourdieu’s concept), but that religious identities of the followers of Santo Daime do not altogether detach from Catholicism, but rather, the religion becomes (following Ganiel 2016) “extra-institutional.” In a similar vein, with the introduction of more expressive Umbandaime-type works, current Santo Daime ritual practice also becomes “extra-institutional” to “traditional” and strict forms of Santo Daime. The author also points out that an important influence on Santo Daime practice in Ireland is the difficulty in obtaining Daime on account of increased regulatory controls across national borders.
