That the proposal that Dáil Éireann, pursuant to Article 29.5.2o of Bunreacht na hÉireann, approves the terms of the borrowing agreement between Ireland and the International Monetary Fund, signed on 3 February 2010, a copy of which was laid before Dáil Éireann on 23 February 2010, be referred to the Select Committee on Finance and the Public Service in accordance with paragraph (1) of the Orders of Reference of that committee, which shall send a message to the Dáil in the manner prescribed in Standing Order 87, and Standing Order 86(2) shall accordingly apply.

That Dáil Éireann approves in accordance with Article 29.5.2o of Bunreacht na hÉireann, the ratification by Ireland of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, as signed by Ireland in Stockholm on 23 May 2001, copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 29 June 2010.

That Deputy Thomas P. Broughan be discharged from the Committee of Public Accounts and that Deputy Pat Rabbitte be appointed in substitution for him.

That Deputy Seán Barrett be discharged from the Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security and that Deputy Dinny McGinley be appointed in substitution for him.

That Deputy Leo Varadkar be discharged from the Joint Committee on Economic Regulatory Affairs and that Deputy John Perry be appointed in substitution for him.

That Deputy Joe Costello be discharged from the Joint Committee on European Scrutiny and that Deputy Brendan Howlin be appointed in substitution for him.

That Deputy Michael Noonan be discharged from the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children and that Deputy Charles Flanagan be appointed in substitution for him.

That Deputy Simon Coveney be discharged from the Select Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and that Deputy Leo Varadkar be appointed in substitution for him.

That Deputy Frank Feighan be discharged from the Select Committee on Education and Skills and that Deputy Fergus O’Dowd be appointed in substitution for him.

That Deputy Leo Varadkar be discharged from the Select Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Innovation and that Deputy Richard Bruton be appointed in substitution for him.

That Deputies Billy Timmins and Joe Costello be discharged from the Select Committee on European Affairs and that Deputies Seán Barrett and Brendan Howlin be appointed in substitution for them.

That Deputy Seán Barrett be discharged from the Select Committee on Finance and the Public Service and that Deputy Michael Noonan be appointed in substitution for him.

That Deputy Michael Noonan be discharged from the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and that Deputy Seán Barrett be appointed in substitution for him.

That Deputies Charles Flanagan and Jimmy Deenihan be discharged from the Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Women’s Rights and that Deputies Alan Shatter and David Stanton be appointed in substitution for them.

That Deputy Olwyn Enright be discharged from the Select Committee on Social Protection and that Deputy Michael Ring be appointed in substitution for her.

That Deputies Mary Alexandra White (Minister of State at the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs), Olivia Mitchell and Michael Ring be discharged from the Select Committee on Tourism, Culture, Sport, Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs and that Deputies Paul Gogarty, Jimmy Deenihan and Frank Feighan be appointed in substitution for them.

That Deputies Fergus O’Dowd and Thomas P. Broughan be discharged from the Select Committee on Transport and that Deputies Simon Coveney and Joe Costello be appointed in substitution for them.

At the earliest opportunity possible, we tried to notify the Whips of the other parties that this matter was to be dealt with. Deputy Ó Snodaigh should note all Stages of this legislation must be passed in both Houses and signed by the President by midnight.

That notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders or the Order of the Dáil of the day that: (1) the proceedings on No. a8, Compulsory Purchase Orders (Extension of Time Limits) Bill 2010 [Seanad], Second and Remaining Stages, shall be taken on the conclusion of Private Members’ business tonight and the following arrangements shall apply: the proceedings on Second Stage shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 50 minutes, the opening speeches of a Minister or Minister of State and of the main spokespersons for Fine Gael and the Labour Party, who shall be called upon in that order, shall not exceed 15 minutes in each case and Members may share time, the Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to make a speech in reply that shall not exceed five minutes; the proceedings on the Committee and Remaining Stages shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 30 minutes tonight by one question which shall be put from the Chair and which shall in regard to amendments include only those set down or accepted by the Minister for Transport and; (2) the proceedings on No. 3 shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion at 11.15 p.m. tonight and any amendments from the Seanad not disposed of shall be decided by one question which shall be put from the Chair and which shall, in regard to amendments to the Seanad amendments include only those set down or accepted by the Minister for Transport, and the Order shall resume thereafter.

That the Order of Dáil Éireann of 23rd October, 2007 establishing Committees of 30th Dáil be amended as follows:

1. by the substitution in each place where it occurs of:

(a) ‘Tourism, Culture, Sport, Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs’ for ‘Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs’;

(b) ‘Tourism, Culture and Sport’ for ‘Arts, Sport and Tourism’;

(c) ‘Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs’ for ‘Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs’;

(d) ‘Education and Skills’ for ‘Education and Science’;

(e) ‘Enterprise, Trade and Innovation’ for ‘Enterprise, Trade and Employment’;

(f) ‘Justice, Defence and Women’s Rights’ for ‘Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights’;

(g) ‘Justice and Law Reform’ for ‘Justice, Equality and Law Reform’; and

(h) ‘Social Protection’ for ‘Social and Family Affairs’;

2. (a) after Paragraph 2(2)(ii) to insert the following:

‘(iia) such matters across Departments which come within the remit of the Minister of State with special responsibility for Integration Policy as it may select;

Provided that members of the Joint Committee on Education and Skills shall be afforded the opportunity to participate in the consideration of matters within this remit;’;

and

(b) the deletion of paragraph 11(2)(iii);

3. that all papers and materials associated with the Joint Committee on Article 35.4.1 of the Constitution and section 39 of the Courts of Justice Act 1924 are no longer required to remain within the custody of the Houses of the Oireachtas.”

That, until the Dáil shall otherwise order, the order in which Questions to members of the Government, other than the Taoiseach, shall be asked in accordance with Standing Order 37(2) shall be that in which the members of the Government are listed in Resolutions approving their nomination by the Taoiseach for appointment by the President dated 7th May, 2008 and 23rd March, 2010.”

That leave be granted to withdraw the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2008.

That, pursuant to Standing Order 99(1)(a) the Committee on Procedure and Privileges recommends that the Standing Orders of Dáil Éireann relative to Public Business are hereby amended as follows:

(a) STANDING ORDER 99 – COMMITTEE ON PROCEDURE AND PRIVILEGES:

In Standing Order 99, by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (3):

‘(4) There shall stand established, following the reassembly of the Dáil subsequent to a General Election, in accordance with the provisions of the Committees of the Houses of the Oireachtas (Compellability, Privileges and Immunities of Witnesses) Act 1997, a sub-Committee, which shall be called the sub-Committee on Compellability, and shall consist of the Party Whips who are members of the Committee and three shall constitute a quorum. The sub-Committee shall—

(a) perform the functions conferred upon it by the Act; and

(b) be joined, as and when required for the purposes of the Act, with a similar sub-Committee of the Seanad Committee on Procedure and Privileges, to form the Joint sub-Committee on Compellability to perform the functions conferred upon it by the Act.’

(b) STANDING ORDER 112 – CONDITIONS ON BROADCASTING OF PROCEEDINGS:

In Standing Order 112, by the substitution of the following paragraph for the first paragraph:

‘112. That the broadcasting on sound and vision of the proceedings of the Dáil and its Committees by national, local and foreign broadcasters, and also on the internet via the world wide web, shall be authorised subject to the following conditions:’

(c) STANDING ORDER 171 – METHOD OF LAYING DOCUMENTS BEFORE THE DÁIL:

In Standing Order 171, by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (1):

‘(1) Where a document is required to be laid before the Dáil the delivery of a copy of the document, which may be an electronic copy in an approved format, to the Parliamentary Library for that purpose shall be deemed to be the laying of it before the Dáil.

(d) STANDING ORDER 136A:

The adoption of the following as an additional Standing Order of Dáil Éireann relative to Public Business.

‘136A. Where Bills are to be substantially amended at Committee or Report Stage the Ceann Comhairle or Committee Chairperson as the case may be shall have discretion to direct that the Member in charge of the Bill must provide a revised explanatory memorandum to assist Members in considering the amendments.’

(e) STANDING ORDER 62 – SUSPENSION OF MEMBER:

In Standing Order 62, in paragraph (1) by the deletion of.

‘Provided, on an exceptional basis, a division may be claimed on the question and, subject to paragraph (3), shall take place immediately before the Order of Business the next sitting day thereafter’

and the substitution therefor of

‘Provided, on an exceptional basis, a division may be claimed on the question and, subject to paragraph (3), shall take place at the discretion of the Ceann Comhairle, either immediately or prior to the Order of Business the next sitting day thereafter’.”

That Dáil Éireann adopts the Report of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges on Parliamentary Standards, copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 18th May, 2010.”

I do not believe that publication of the Government’s proposals at this point in time would in any way help to expedite the achievement of that consensus.

The problem of psychoactive substances and head shops is not uniquely Irish. I attended a UN conference on narcotics where I found it very interesting to speak, at both formal and informal sessions, to a range of delegates from countries throughout the world about how they were trying to deal with this issue. No country had managed to deal with it completely successfully because the products that are being sold are being deliberately researched and manufactured to mimic the effects of other illegal drugs and are constantly replacing those drugs. Most countries were trying to deal with the problem under legislation broadly similar to our Misuse of Drugs Act. We have used that legislation to deal with the issue and have, recently, extended the range of products covered. However, we needed to do more. The legislation being initiated today will go much further than that of any other European country.

People have argued that if we close down head shops, the product will be sold illegally. I do not dispute that, but the very presence of the head shops encourages people who would otherwise never have experimented to experiment. As the previous Minister of State with responsibility for the drug strategy, I had the opportunity to meet drug workers, visit accident and emergency units and speak to people involved in this area and I am aware of the serious long and short-term damage that has been caused to people as a result of the misuse of these substances. Over a year ago, Deputy Darragh O’Brien brought a delegation to the House before this issue hit the media. The drugs strategy we published and researched includes actions relating to head shops. Therefore, the issue was around for quite a while before culminating in this legislation.

This Bill developed as a result of a co-ordinated response of a number of Departments and agencies and a considerable effort was made to try to deal with a problem that had emerged as a result of the many ways people were trying to work around the rules and regulations in law. Some people often suggested we should licence the products. Those being sold were products “not for human consumption” and the ingredients were constantly being changed and it proved quite difficult to introduce a licensing system in that regard. I had a number of meetings with the Garda Commissioner, the Attorney General, Des Corrigan from the National Advisory Committee on Drugs, Kathleen Stack and our staff in the office of the Minister with responsibility for drugs and the Secretaries General of a number of related offices to try to develop a co-ordinated approach to dealing with the issue.

People indicated or suggested we should have planning laws relating to head shops. I have never supported this or licensing for head shops because my view is that it is the products they sell that are the problem. Therefore, we should not have the shops at all. Our legislation and our approach to it must be robust in that regard and for that reason, this legislation has evolved across a range of Departments. With regard to the use of this legislation in conjunction with the Misuse of Drugs Act, the Garda and Revenue and Customs officers have indicated their willingness and ability to tackle the range of products that have been coming through.

While taking on this legislation, it is important to recognise that the drug problem does not go away, but evolves. It is important to ensure we have procedures in place to identify the emerging problems. In that regard, I acknowledge the very useful work that is done by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs, chaired by Dr. Des Corrigan. In more recent times, the committee has become much more focused on providing accurate, timely information. Besides its longitudinal studies and research, the committee now provides fast and accurate information on emerging problems. It is only in that context that these issues can be addressed.

People have suggested that by closing head shops and closing off home delivery services and Internet sales, we reduce the problem but do not remove it, because the substances being sold will eventually be sold as illegal drugs and that this would not be much different from what we deal with in terms of ecstasy, cocaine or heroin currently. However, I believe closing them is hugely significant, because when head shops emerged, a number of people experimented with head shop products who never would have dealt with or used illegal drugs. This was frightening and quite alarming. I saw this in my area - as did Deputy Rabbitte - where there is a head shop just up the road from us. I met a number of parents and families and people who thought - this is the worrying issue - that because these products were being sold in a shop and were not illegal, it meant they were licensed, controlled or regulated. However, just because something is not illegal does not mean any quality control or standards are applied. It is because people felt a sense of security and safety in experimenting with some of these products that for some time I have been of the opinion that licensing, regulation or planning around head shops was not sufficient. My view is that the products being sold are absolutely dangerous and that our target should be to close them down. That is the direction we are going.

I am aware that other European countries are looking at this legislation to see if they can do something similar. We have also looked at what other countries have done in trying to tackle the issue of head shops, but they have not been very successful. The enforcement of this legislation will now become a focus of attention not only in this country, but in others due to the fact that the sharing of information has become more crucial in recent times. A number of countries still use their misuse of drugs legislation to reduce and minimise the range of products being sold, but this broader legislation being introduced today will make a substantial impact and will certainly close the remaining head shops as we know them. While some of the products we have seen in recent times will become illegal, the quantities of them being used, the number of people experimenting and those presenting with problems will reduce as a result of the introduction of the legislation. It is my pleasure to compliment all of those who over the past year did significant work to address the issue of head shops and their products, resulting in the legislation before us today.

That Deputy Noel Grealish be discharged from the Select Committee on Finance and the Public Service and that Deputy Thomas Byrne be appointed in substitution for him.

That notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders or the Order of the Dáil of today I propose that No. c14, motion re membership of committee on the Supplementary Order Paper, be moved now and decided without debate.