Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I add my support for the legislation and compliment the Minister and the Department for pre-empting the decision of the Court of Appeal and for having been so well prepared to close off those loopholes as quickly as possible. The Minister appreciates that the people involved in the illicit drug trade are very unscrupulous and the sooner the Bill can be enacted the better it will be. I applaud the Minister for the speed with which he has taken the matter in hand. It is inevitable that there should be a broader discussion on the drugs issue as a result of this particular development. The Minister has many pressing issues on his agenda within the extensive portfolio he has taken on, but the impact of the drugs trade on families and communities, and on young people in particular, amounts to a major national crisis. I would very much welcome a comprehensive debate and discussion with the Minister in this House on how these issues can be tackled. Senator Heffernan put forward some very interesting ideas today which I, however, probably would not support. I am conscious of the devastation being wrought by drug abuse in small towns and villages the length and breadth of the country. We must redouble our efforts to ensure gardaí and customs staff are sufficiently resourced to put the people involved in the illicit drugs trade out of business. It is a major challenge. The Minister will be well aware of the number of hospital beds that are taken up and the proportion of accident and emergency unit time and resources given over to people presenting with drug overdoses or who have injured themselves as a result of the use of drugs, as well as those who have been injured by persons misusing drugs. This represents a major cost to the Exchequer.

There has been some discussion as to whether there should be a dedicated Minister of State with responsibility for drugs. I was a member some years ago of a drugs task force at a time when we had a Minister of State with precisely that responsibility. I am not sure whether we made the amount of progress we would have liked to make. We must continue to give attention to the issue. I hope the Minister will be back in the near future for a wide-ranging discussion on these critical matters. For today, I am pleased this legislation has the support of Members of all parties and none. It will ensure that a significant loophole which might be exploited by unscrupulous operators is closed as a matter of urgency.