Head Shops

“Ingenuity” Required to Enable State to Close Head Shops Justice Dept Sec Gen Tells Oireachtas Committee

20 h April 2010

The Department of Justice is resolved to do everything it can to introduce legislation which will put head shops out of business, the Secretary General of the Department, told the Oireachtas European Scrutiny Committee today.

Mr Se n Aylward told Committee members that framing such legislation would be a challenge and has so far proven very difficult. He said that the only countries he had seen that had been completely successful in eliminating these products were countries with totalitarian regimes. However, he said that the Minister and the Department were resolved to try but that it would require “both ingenuity of language and philosophy” to tackle this matter.

He outlined that a wide-ranging strategy was needed and the Department’s approach was to “hit every button on the set to in trying to tackle head shops.”

Mr Aylward was attending the Committee to enable members to consider his Department’s report on justice developments in the EU. Members questioned him regarding the possibility of an EU wide justice approach to address the issue of head shops.

Mr Aylward informed the Committee that while the Department of Health was following certain EU protocols and procedures to ban some substances, the Department of Justice was also pursuing a criminal justice response. This process involved ongoing consultation with the Attorney General with a view to bring legislation to Government.

Committee Chairman, John Perry TD said;
“We are very pleased to hear the comprehensive approach being taken by the Department of Justice to this problem. The issue of head shops is causing serious concern all over the country. By all accounts the products they peddle can cause unquantifiable damage and the sooner they can be banned the better."

Mr Aylward also told the Committee that the Department of Foreign Affairs have already conducted a review of how other countries had dealt with this issue.