Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I congratulate her on her appointment and wish her every success in her new role.I welcome the Bill. Earlier, on the Order of Business, I referred to the Supreme Court judgment which set aside the Court of Criminal Appeal judgment. The reason I referred to that matter was the delegation of powers in respect of bringing in regulations or statutory instruments to add to existing legislation in the drugs area. The drugs available change by the day. It is important, therefore, that the Minister of State and the Department respond in a timely manner. That is what occurred until the Court of Criminal Appeal decision, which held that the SI 551 of 2011 was not constitutional and, therefore, that the conviction in a particular case was not in order. The State appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. It was right to appeal the decision and the judgment issued yesterday clearly sets out that the State was correct in its arguments and that we, as legislators, cannot legislate for every simple detail in respect of what happens on the street every day but we can give an overall view of how we can manage our affairs and then delegate the responsibility to the Minister and the Department. That is what the 1977 Act does and this Bill also does that. The Minister is setting out clear guidelines in respect of the management of the drugs sold illegally and making sure the necessary powers are in place for the Garda and other authorities to deal with them.

This demonstrates how the drugs culture changes by the day. A number of months ago, a 16 year old in transition year was in my office in Dublin and he advised me that he had worked with a GP in a methadone clinic in the Dublin area. He outlined that the blue light system, which was used in many public places to prevent people injecting, is null and void. People purchase small sachets of lemon juice to put into the syringe in order that if they do not hit a vein, the lemon juice will react to their tissue, giving a sting. They know this whether they are hitting the vein. As a result, the blue lights in toilets no longer have the same effect as they had previously. A 16 year old was able to update me on this issue. It goes to show how the matter changes so fast. The importance of this legislation is to make sure we likewise can react quickly and we are not relying on legislation to address every detail that needs to be changed. The Minister of State is correct to bring this legislation forward because we need to respond.

A number of colleagues highlighted the issue of the slowness to respond to the challenges that affect some areas. This issue is not confined to Dublin. Some people may be under the impression that Dublin is the only place with this problem. However, every place in the State is affected. The availability of drugs and the misuse of them is an increasing problem and it will continue to increase. We will have to work through a process to make sure adequate resources are available to the Garda and the health services to deal with this.

I welcome the legislation. It is important to support the Minister of State and to make sure new regulations are introduced in a fast and efficient manner. Yesterday's Supreme Court decision highlighted the fact that when SIs are laid before the House, we have the right, as legislators, to amend them if we feel they exceed the powers of the legislation. There are, therefore, controls and checks and balances in place. Sometimes we forget that we have an important power to challenge regulations brought forward by Ministers or Departments and laid before the House. It is important that the legislation should pass at the earliest date and the subsequent regulations and statutory instruments are brought forward in a timely manner in order that the relevant powers are given to the authorities to deal with the illegal trading of drugs and other substances and limits and controls are put in place to make sure the problem does not continue to expand in the way it has over the past two years. I thank the Minister of State for bringing the Bill forward.