Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

I request a debate on the drugs issue. A considerable amount of good work done by Oireachtas committees is consigned to a shelf somewhere and the media, given its lack of understanding of what committees do, fails to pick up on it. I respectfully suggest that we take as a starting point for a debate on drugs a number of reports completed by the Joint Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs during my time as Chairman. The issues covered included: the effectiveness of investment in sport and the arts as a deterrent against youth substance abuse; the treatment of cocaine addiction with particular reference to the Irish experience; the inclusion of alcohol in a national substance misuse strategy; the relationship between alcohol misuse and drinks industry sponsorship of sporting activities; and what everyone should know about cannabis and drug abuse in Ireland — a Waterford perspective.

A great deal of work has gone into all the various aspects of the drugs issue. Many suggestions and recommendations have been made. A good starting point would be to up-date ourselves on what has gone on among ourselves during the past five years. To show that the committees have a validity, perhaps we could read the reports and check out what has happened since they were concluded.

My second issue relates to the matter raised by Senator O'Toole, the non-insurance of cars. In the Lower House I raised the issue of the sting-ray device used in the North which enables the reading of a tax disc on a car. One stands along the roadside with the equivalent of a speed hair dryer and via technology one can link into the tax authorities and find out whether a car is taxed. This is more relevant in the Republic on the basis that we display three discs, the NCT disc, the insurance disc and the tax disc. Therefore the equivalent of a sting-ray here would be much more effective on the roadside to determine who is legally on the road. It is an issue that ought to be pursued. When I raised the matter on an Adjournment debate the former Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr. McDowell, said he had come in with one idea of what he was going to say, but he tore up his script after I had finished speaking and said it was a good idea and that he would pursue it. Will the Leader give an update on whether the matter has been pursued?