Mary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

I congratulate the Minister for Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Carey, who in another life as a Minister of State had responsibility for drugs. There is great delight that he has been given this remit once again. I met him in Granard last Thursday, when he had a conversation with a woman from Athlone who is heavily involved in this issue.

Although head shops are a recent phenomenon, I am sure they are in every constituency in the country. In the midlands, they have sprouted up in Athlone, Mullingar and Roscommon over the past 12 months and now assume a prominent position in the lives of these towns. They are given silly names like "Phantasia" or "Health Store" to persuade people into thinking they are good shops offering healthy wares. However, they are full of what I can only describe as lethal drugs. These products are supposedly made from plants and all things wonderful in nature. I do not know what they are made from but their application is potentially injurious to young people. Despite their dangers, crowds swirl around these head shops day and night to buy whatever it is they sell. These customers are fooling themselves and their parents into believing they are buying wonderful new palliatives which will bring them deep sleep or success in examinations. However, these products are lethal.

Two weeks ago, more than 400 people attended a meeting in Athlone to discuss head shops. They are not prepared to wait three months for Europe to issue a directive and another ten months for it to enter Irish law. They want to know whether the Government can act now to bring criminal charges against those who peddle these wares. Can the Government take any action now which would bring about criminal charges on those who peddle these wares? These products are drugs. They are pure drugs from a particular source and are harmful, especially to young people. One particularly harmful product is called bath salts. One may believe one would use them to have a bath or something but one inhales them and then one becomes flaked out. I listened to people who told the stories of their young folk and teenagers. I was deeply dismayed to hear what young people are going through and what is being peddled to them from shops with titles such as "Health Store".

The Minister could make a name for himself in his new job were he to strike at these headshops, within the law, and bring comfort, especially to parents who are very concerned about their young people because of the effects these drugs are having. I hope the Minister will not refer to a proposal of three months or six months duration because these are spreading from town to town like a disease or a plague. There is a proliferation of these shops and there are crowds of young people who believe their day is not complete if they have not visited a headshop and purchased some of these very potent materials.

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