Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the recent announcement on the banning of certain products. I also welcome the Minister's announcement that he will present to the House legislation on psychoactive substances.

Will the Minister agree that the failure to respond for such a long time to the threat posed by products being sold in head shops allowed demand to be created, and allowed the emergence of a far wider customer base than simply those people who would normally be attracted to that type of product? Does he agree that that has resulted in the development of drug dependencies by those who might otherwise not have engaged with that type of substance misuse?

What steps were taken in advance of the ban, which came into effect this week, to prevent the likes of mephedrone and snow going directly on to the black market? In England and Wales, local government officials were contacting head shops to seek their stocks of substances well in advance of the ban taking effect. Was that the case in Ireland? Has the Garda, since the ban came into effect, ensured that the products are not on sale? Has it raided warehouses where mephedrone has been stockpiled, for instance? To my knowledge, mephedrone is transferred by head shop owners to Ireland.

I have a final supplementary question-----

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