Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)

I congratulate the Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Deputy Pat Carey, on his new appointment and welcome a counterpart across the room, Deputy Curran. I wish them both the best.

I thank the Minister for his answer. I cannot pronounce the name of the drug either, so I will refer to it as BZP. I will briefly make a few observations on the Minister's answer. I am delighted something will be done by March next year but it is somewhat far away as it will come in much earlier in the UK and other places. Some 24 of these shops are established throughout the country and there are grave concerns among parents on their activities particularly regarding the sale of mind-altering substances such as BZP. For many young people going out in the evening BZP has replaced ecstasy and other drugs that were previously used. The real concern is that yesterday's newspaper reported research from the Health Research Board showing the prevalence of treated problem drug use among 15 to 64 year olds increased by 15% between 2001 and 2006. The sooner this drug is taken off the shelves the better for everybody and I ask the Minister to reconsider the timeline and do this earlier.

See this speech in context