Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin was not present when I spoke on the amendments. I missed the Senator's previous contribution, as I was in the ante room. As a new Minister of State, I need as much advice as I can get, as does anyone in a similar position.I depend on people in the Departments of Health and the Environment, Community and Local Government, as my community portfolio is under those. While I am given advice, I give the Senator a solid guarantee that I do not say anything unless I agree with and have read it. If I read something and do not like what I see, it does not get printed. That is the way I operate. Yesterday, Senator Boyhan paid me a nice compliment by saying that it was about time people entered the Chamber, put their speeches aside and spoke from their hearts. That is how I operate.Senators Humphreys and Ó Ríordáin know that. We were long enough on the council together.

My role is to pass a Bill to ensure that these five pages' worth of drugs, half of which I cannot even pronounce, are not sold on the street. I am not here to criminalise anyone, only to introduce a Bill that will make selling legal and illegal drugs on streets a crime - regardless of whether we like it, it is a crime - and give the Garda the power to stop and search such people. Yesterday, I gave the example of my son, a garda, stopping someone but being unable to take away what was in the person's pockets because there was no legislation allowing for it. That situation is what this Bill addresses. I have given a commitment to the Seanad, and will give another in the Dáil, that if the issue of criminalisation is raised in the public consultation process - it will be - the clean injection facilities initiative will still go ahead. The Senator instigated it, not me. When I read the article in The Journal, I took it that the Senator had said that. If I have offended him, I apologise. There was no intention of offend any Member. I am one of them, a public representative like everyone present.

The most important issue is that, once the Bill is passed by the Dáil, the drugs listed on these five pages can be confiscated and people can be arrested. That is what it is about, nothing else. I am sorry if I missed the Senator's contribution or he missed mine, but I am full of good intentions. Senator Humphreys is right, in that good intentions do not always produce something, but I am here to listen and co-operate. As I told the Senators, including Senator Ruane, Deputy Jonathan O'Brien of Sinn Féin and Members from various parties, I want a comprehensive national drug strategy that means something. I do not want pages of rubbish, but action.