John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

Yes. To ban a substance, it must first be clearly identified and shown to have a negative and detrimental effect on health. A process must be completed to ensure the legislation is robust. Shortly before Christmas a range of products was added to the list of banned substances in the United Kingdom. While I am not familiar with the technical names, some designer cathinones such as methadrone and methylone have not been added to the UK list. We hope to go a step further than Britain and include these products on the Irish list of banned substances. The products in question have brand names with which the Deputy may be familiar, for example, "Charge", "White Ice" and "Snow Blow". We intend to add a substantial number of products to the list of banned substances.

While planning and other regulations will have a role to play, it should be borne in mind that the primary concern relates to the substances given that a considerable number of them are available for sale on the Internet and are delivered by post. For this reason, closing off retail outlets will not be sufficient to address the problem. I have quizzed customs officials on this matter and they have indicated that if legislation is in place and products are illegal, they have the capacity to intercept these products. We are addressing this issue in a comprehensive manner.

Deputy Byrne is correct that education has a major role to play in this regard. The Health Service Executive has embarked on designing an awareness campaign which will focus, in particular, on addressing the mistaken impression that because these products are legal they are regulated. The problem is these products are not yet illegal and the message the HSE will try to communicate is that this does not mean they are safe. This will be the focus of the awareness campaign being developed.

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