Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I had a very rigid view that it should be for the courts to have the ability to make a discernment in each individual case but because I am now convinced that the issue of drugs is so pervasive, is all over the country and doing extraordinary damage to communities all over the country, that we need that wake-up call. I agree with the Minister that it is not simply the Mr. Bigs who can manipulate from prison cells, using mobile phones, or from Spain, Holland or wherever they are. They need a distribution system and it has to be confronted rigidly. I accept that because of the position we are in. I wish to make two points on this issue.

The new level the Minister is suggesting for a minimum ten-year sentence that must be served is €500,000 worth of drugs. There is a view, and it has come also from Government backbenchers to me, that might give the signal that the new level of acceptability is €500,000 worth of drugs and that volumes below that level should not be dealt with at that level of severity. I raised that point on Second Stage but I did not hear a response to it and it is something that causes me concern.

I am a convert to the view that we need a mandatory sentence for this offence. Normally I do not go down the road of mandatory sentences or of the "three strikes and you are out" or the "lock them up" approach, which in the prisoner's view is part of the American criminal justice system. I wish we had more time to tease out these issues but we have not, unfortunately.

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