Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Government decision yesterday to ban a range of head shop products. From June head shops will be prevented from selling a range of products that would have been sold under the heading of legal highs until now. Head shops are a scourge on society. A number of them in my constituency are causing tremendous grief and pain to parents and to the local community. I welcome the Government's decision, which is a step in the right direction. Ultimately, while there may be a constitutional issue, I would like to see a total ban on head shops. I would also like to see the regulation of such shops under the planning guidelines. That might be considered in the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009, which is before the Dáil at present. Consumer law should be amended to take account of the dangers head shops pose to vulnerable people and young people.

I refer to the ongoing dissident activity north of the Border, which is extending to untreatable levels and causing great distress to many people living north of the Border. There are dissident groups on both sides that are scourging local communities. Evidence of that was the death of the young man in Derry approximately ten days ago. The man had connections with my area in Donegal. I know he was a very respectable young man who was killed brutally by a dissident republican group. However, those people are nothing more than murderers who deserve to lie in the gutter. Those people need to be brought to task. They are not republicans. They do not represent the values of the republican leaders who established this State.