Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail)

I join Senator Harris in complimenting RTE not just on last night's programme but on being a quality station generally. It has done excellent work and it is not long since it screened an exposé of alcohol abuse, which is linked with the abuse of drugs. What we saw last night may have come as a surprise to some but in the main we are aware this is taking place.

An ordered society always requires constraints on individual rights. We can sometimes park our car in one position, for example, whereas at other times we cannot. We must watch the speed at which we drive and we are told how many drinks we can have before we drive a car. If individual rights were being debated, it would not be unusual to decide it is, at the end of the day, a matter of the lesser evil and the greater good.

I am in favour of zero tolerance with regard to drugs given what I see happening at the other end of the scale. Old people are being terrorised as a result of drug abuse. I have no doubt much of the criminality in this country is as a result of addiction to drugs and the money required to feed that addiction. I have no doubt we will all find ourselves virtual prisoners in our own society and community if we do not take a stand. We will come to a point where we will not be able to redirect society to ensure the quality of life for the people.

No message should go out from this House that we are in any way soft on drugs. We should push for zero tolerance because the ordinary citizen deserves this from us.