Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, for coming to the House. I welcome my Young Fine Gael colleagues who are in the Gallery today, who are co-sponsors of the Bill.

Despite the fact that we are only talking about section 1 today, I am grateful that we are progressing the Bill. I acknowledge that the Minister wishes to consult with the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, and the Garda Commissioner on the Bill. I hope to have these requests back before we come back in September because I am very keen to do the final parts of Committee Stage and Report Stage so that the Minister can then bring the Bill to the Dáil.

The part of the Bill that we are speaking about today is the definitions. I have nothing to say about most of the definitions because they are not to be amended, with the exception of one with regard to "sedating". It is not an amendment to the definition, it is just that since we last spoke about the Bill here a number of weeks ago, it has been brought to our attention that the spiking of vapes is now a thing, which is not something I had ever heard about before, in particular when we were drafting the Bill. Now people have the ability, if they have a malign intention, to spike something through injection, putting something in a drink and putting something in a vape. I do not know where this is going to begin or end, but I certainly know we need this stand-alone offence on the Statute Book as quickly as possible. I take this opportunity to thank the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, for giving of his time here today.