A couple of months ago, we had a discussion on the fact that the Government was working on the so-called spiking Bill, the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person (Amendment) (Spiking) Bill 2023. I asked whether it would progress beyond Second Stage to Committee and Report Stages. At present, the sinister offence of the spiking of drinks is covered only under legislation on poisoning or drugging, such as the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act, the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act, the Misuse of Drugs Act and the Intoxicating Liquor Act. Is this Bill going to come before these Houses shortly? Spiking is an important issue. It is an ongoing, systemic problem in society and proper penalties are needed.

I thank the Deputy. He has a point but the legislation is not in the current legislative programme. We will have a meeting in early January on the new legislative programme for the next session. We will talk to the relevant Minister as well and hopefully we can provide some clarity on the matter of the reintroduction.