The harms from using nitrous oxide are very well known. I do not think the Minister will dispute any of the information that Deputy Ward has provided. There is not a TD in the Dáil who does not want to ensure that this drug is kept from destroying another young life. We are all in agreement on that. I am mystified as to why the Minister wants to kick this down the road given that we all agree that action is needed. The Minister and the Government say they want to take action but, for some bizarre reason, they just do not want to act now. Will the Minister make that make sense for me? Figures from the HSE tell us that taking action on nitrous oxide cannot wait. The 175% increase in the numbers attending the adolescent addiction services who have taken nitrous oxide tell us that this is a growing problem. The problem is growing because nitrous oxide is freely available. The people who make it and the people who sell it are far ahead of the Government and moving much faster. They are already latching onto flavours, they have colourful packaging and they are heavily marketing this to children and yet the Minister says that action can wait. That does not make any sense. There is not a town or a village in my constituency or any other constituency that has not seen the upsurge in these cans. You can see the canisters lying around. You see them lying around in the evenings. If the Minister does not believe me, he can talk to his local Tidy Towns group. They will tell him the same. It is everywhere. The reason it is everywhere and the reason it is growing is that it is freely available and unregulated. That is on the Government. I commend Deputy Ward on the work he has done not just on this legislation but in this area generally. It is incredibly worthwhile work but it all points in the one direction, as the Minister knows. It points in the direction of us taking action. We know what the harms are. We know that young people are taking this as a cheap alternative to alcohol. We know that, in many cases, they are not aware of the potential damage. We know that the potential for damage is huge. There is only one way to deal with this and that is through regulation. That should be done today. The Minister knows well that legislation does not pass in the blink of an eye. It takes time. If there are issues with the legislation, the Minister should work with Deputy Ward to figure those out. Let us do the pre-legislative scrutiny and get this legislation passed. Let us send a message to young people, to their parents and to our communities that we take this issue seriously and that the Government is willing to take action on it. I urge the Minister to withdraw his amendment.

Sentiment score: -0.05