Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

In that context I would be worried that there might be some difficulty with substances that are licensed in one EU member state and not in another jurisdiction. There may be difficulties regarding free trade in that respect. I ask the Minister to address that issue also. We could find that substances that we have made illegal are licensed in other jurisdictions.

The initiative taken in particular by a number of agencies in my own constituency, including the Garda, Dublin City Council and the local drugs task force, has been very effective as an approach. Gardaí are very proactive and Chief Superintendent Pat Leahy personally visited every head shop in the north inner city, warning the owners and staff they could be charged with reckless endangerment. That is similar to what the Minister has said.

I will quote the relevant section of the existing legislation, the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act 1997, which states "a person shall be guilty of an offence who intentionally or recklessly engages in conduct which creates a substantial risk of death or serious harm to another". As a result, 13 files are currently with the Director of Public Prosecution and all of the 15 shops have closed down except for two. That was largely due to action taken under the combined approach, which also included landlords being contacted, Dublin City Council planning enforcement officers investigating for compliance with planning and the fire brigade examining the premises for health and safety reasons. Within the existing set-up there has been a concerted attack and that is what is required for the future. There must be a task force in place to monitor any initiative coming from the drugs side and which could mobilise a concerted approach very quickly.

I urge the Minister to take on board the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2010 which I tabled in the Dáil earlier this year, which would have the effect of preventing on planning grounds new head shops coming into existence. That would be desirable and could be done at the stroke of a pen even before we go into recess. It would form part of the concerted attempt to approach this problem, which is an extremely dangerous threat to the health and safety of young people in this country. We should form a multi-pronged approach and deal with the issue in a concerted fashion.

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