Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

Can one sell them beside other products? I would be in the courts if I were to do so; therefore, we should close head shops down immediately.

The food industry, including restaurants, operates under strict regulations. We must check food storage temperatures four or fives time a day. One cannot serve breakfast without taking the temperature of a rasher first. One cannot wash potatoes beside cabbages and one cannot make coleslaw in the same sink that was used to wash potatoes. However, substances can be sold all day in a head shop which probably does not have planning permission. This makes no sense. The more we broaden the debate, the more agencies become involved and the bigger the problem becomes.

I wish to pose a question. Could someone like me in the restaurant business legitimately sell the products being sold in head shops, beside food products, without being exposed to the rigours of the law and health inspectors asking from where they had come and how they were packed and washed?