Dr. David Joyce:

I will deal with this in terms of the substances themselves, although maybe not from an operational point of view. We currently have two mechanisms by which we can get substances tested. Neither of them is very satisfactory, in my view. The first is that if a substance is seized within the prison, which happens regularly, the substance is stored securely and we await the arrival of members of An Garda Síochána to pick up the substance, transport it to the Forensic Science Ireland lab and get a result. Unfortunately, it can take weeks to months before we get a result on that substance.