Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

No one can dispute the analysis set out by Deputy Ó Snodaigh. He put his finger on it when he spoke about the capacity of these products to re-invent themselves. At the same time, I have sympathy with the Minister in saying we do not want to create a new regulatory body unnecessarily which may duplicate an existing one. However, the treatment of this subject by the Minister for Health and Children and her Department is not exactly encouraging, given the length of time it took them to take the simple step of adding certain products to the list of products disallowed under the Misuse of Drugs Act. One would have thought that would have been a relatively simple straightforward exercise compared to the task this Bill sets out to do.

I am somewhat discomfited by the remarks by the Minister that the submission from Garrett Sheehan & Partners, solicitors on behalf of the head shop owners, went AWOL.

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