Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

I am rising before my time. I did not believe I would be called so soon. I welcome the Minister to the Chamber and am delighted she is present to hear what Senators are discussing. I am sure Senator Buttimer agrees. These statements highlight the concern surrounding head shops.

I did not know much about head shops until a few people contacted me about them just before and over Christmas. This correspondence reminded me that I had been contacted around 2006 by a lovely family in south County Dublin who had lost a son very tragically because he had taken a drug he had bought legally in a head shop. I remembered the heartache and trouble visited on that family, from which they probably still suffer. The talk about head shops has not died down. It is in the print media and on the radio and television.

When I looked up the definition of a head shop I noted "head shops […] sell 'legal highs', products that are legal but can provide experiences similar to those offered by outlawed drugs". The products sold in head shops mimic the effect of illicit drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy. I read that the shops "also sell paraphernalia associated with drug taking such as hash pipes and bongs".

When I was researching this subject, I became a little bit of an expert. They say a little knowledge is a bad thing but, in this case, it is probably a good thing because I am now very familiar with words such as "Snow Blow", "Nirvana" and "Stone Zone", which the Cathaoirleach will not know. One can buy all the legal highs in outlets that have lovely names such as Happy Daze, Dreamland Promotions and High Times. One does not have to be too bright or too up to date with what is going on around one to know that if one is shopping in a shop with such a name and buying items that carry names such as Snow Blow and Nirvana, one knows well what one is buying. One does not have to be too bright to know these are a gateway to harder drugs. The products are deliberately aimed at the young population, which is worrying.

I watched "Prime Time" last Tuesday. It has always brought such terribly sad viewing to our living rooms, yet it is very realistic. I was talking at the weekend to my daughter's friend who is 23. She was telling me she works off Dame Street and knew there was a head shop in the area. She said she had seen perhaps one or two customers coming and going and that the shop never really caught her eye. However, when she left work at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, the night after "Prime Time", there was a queue a quarter of a mile up the street to get into the head shop. With regard to highlighting the dangers of head shops, one is damned if one does and damned if one does not. "Prime Time" was right to highlight the terrible plague on society that they constitute. Our hands are tied because technically the shops have the right to exist, yet they have no right to exist in the minds of God-fearing, good-living people. It is a catch-22 situation in that if one highlights the terrors of head shops, one opens the door to people who are looking for products such as those on sale therein in that they now know where to find them.

Head shops are a plague on society. Dozens have opened, not only in big towns but also in small towns. I was in the town in which I grew up, Tullamore, at the weekend and saw it has a head shop. The shops are open until 4 a.m. and at weekends to attract young people coming out of nightclubs and bars. That is the age group they target.

On the way to the Chamber I was talking to Senator Twomey who I know has young children. I told him I feel sorry for a parent such as him. At least my children are young adults who I hope and pray have the sense not to frequent head shops. For parents with young children, the head shops must be a nightmare. When one is a young teenager, one believes one's parents know nothing and that one's friends know everything. One is very easily influenced. The people I see hanging around head shops – I am not out too late at night – are young teenagers under 18. Perhaps they are not sold the goods when they go into the shops but they probably have somebody buying them for them.

The United Kingdom has banned certain so-called legal highs. What it has banned is now flooding into the Irish market. The Minister is only too familiar with BZP pills, party pills, which mimic ecstasy, and the synthetic cannabis called Spice. It is very difficult to be on top of all this because no sooner is one substance banned, whether in the UK or in Ireland, than a chemist or other scientifically minded person will have a new component to add. It could be a component used in rat poison or other veterinary products. Young people do not know what they are putting into their system when they buy such products. It is so difficult to keep up to date with what is happening, especially in the world of science and chemistry. There are always little components that can be tweaked to make things more glamorous, but they are dangerous or even fatal to those taking them.

I commend the Minister who, I know, was very taken by that family who lost their son in 2006. We had direct contact with that family and, as a result, our hearts went out to them. It was terrible for a tragedy to befall such a lovely family. As a result of that person's death, however, magic mushrooms were banned. That was as a result of the Minister's good work. In addition, BZPs have been banned since last year through the good offices of the Minister, Deputy Harney, and the Minister of State, Deputy Curran. I watched him on that "Prime Time" programme and he is doing great work in this regard. No matter how much work we put into this, however, a bit of tweaking can always bring about something even more dangerous.

A Kildare newspaper - I think it was the Leinster Leader - reported that gardaí in Naas have received numerous complaints about head shops. The one they are looking into is called Dreamland Promotions, which is close to two boys' schools. The people running such head shops obviously pick these locations deliberately. I was surprised to read in that report that the landlord of the shop is a member of the Judiciary. There is nothing illegal in owning a shop premises and leasing it to somebody who will run a business there. If I had my way I would ban these head shops. In that way, parents and others could sleep easily in their beds at night. Realistically, however, that cannot be done so we must examine the options.

There has been such a growth in head shops that one cannot but notice them. None the less, they are not subject to any health and safety or commercial regulations. Meanwhile, we have stringent laws that apply to other outlets, including off-licences. The Minister has attended this House on previous occasions to discuss the consumption of alcohol by youths who send older people into off-licence premises to buy drink for them. We have come down rather heavily, particularly on opening hours and fines for off-licences which sell drink to under age youths. Despite this, we know that seriously dangerous drugs are on sale in head shops. One can push open the door and ask for "Snow Blow", "Spice", "Stone Zone" or "Nirvana". One can have anything there on request.

It was interesting to see a man from one of the Dublin head shops on the "Prime Time" programme. He was pathetic and said: "I'm selling bath salts. You put them in the bath." However, we saw a young man who had inhaled or ingested that substance - I am ignorant as to what people do to get high from these substances - and he was incoherent. He could hardly put two words together. There must be some way we can allow the Garda Síochána to visit head shops and ensure regulations are not being broken. Let us see what the Revenue Commissioners think of such premises. Is there anything more sinister behind the already terrible vista arising from the sale of such substances?