Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I am pleased to see the Minister of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in the House. The situation with regard to head shops has been deteriorating for a period of time. At least eight head shops have been attacked, largely through arson, with some fire-bombed. Many of them were severely damaged. In my constituency two were attacked with one totally demolished. The absence of any meaningful action from the Government allows sinister elements to have full reign and operate what is effectively criminal behaviour. Such absence also means that head shops can proliferate and spread throughout the country. It is a lucrative trade as we have seen. While that continues we will have more head shops throughout the country. There are approximately 14 or 15 in my constituency and I understand there are approximately 100 throughout the country.

At present, in Dublin Central many parents are in fear for their children. Many of those accessing head shops are very young teenagers because there is no regulation or licensing or no restrictions on minors entering those shops and buying any of the products on sale. Many of those products are labelled in one way but intended in another. These products mimic the most dangerous of drugs which are illegal under the Misuse of Drugs Act, particularly cocaine and heroin. They are sold as bath salts or plant food but in fact many of them are intended to be injected or ingested. The danger that many parents in the north inner city fear with regard to their teenage sons and daughters is another drug epidemic to rival the heroin and cocaine epidemics of the 1980s and 1990s, because they are the drugs being mimicked in the head shops which young people consume orally and inject. At a recent meeting of the north inner city drugs task force the Garda indicated anecdotally that it had experienced a sharp rise in burglaries and larceny.

Last Friday, the Minister stated he would introduce legislation to provide the Garda with new powers to deal with head shops. Will he outline those proposals? To date, the interdepartmental committee, on which the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform sits, has not produced any tangible proposals or measures other than a statement of intent that some time towards the end of June certain named products will be banned and that this will come from the Department of Health and Children through the Irish Medicines Board. As was indicated by many people commenting on the area, these are synthetic drugs and once the Minister announces, months in advance, what he intends to do those supplying the drugs will be able to mix the ingredients to produce similar drugs that will not be properly defined under the new designations under the Misuse of Drugs Acts. They will then proceed merrily on their way.

Last month, the Labour Party proposed the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2010 which would prevent the proliferation of new head shops and would require existing head shops to obtain planning permission, which would be very difficult for them to do. One simple Bill already on the Order Paper of the Dáil could solve the problem almost overnight if the Government was prepared to accept it and process it through the Dáil. It could be done very quickly, in the space of a couple of days.

Will the Minister outline his proposals on the new powers he intends to give to the Garda? How are they expected to operate? Will he take the Bill that is before the House and process and implement it and deal with the matter as quickly as possible?

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