Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There has been much discussion and focus in the House for some time on drugs and excessive drinking. I wish to turn my attention to the latter. There is a need for the Government to take a much firmer hand in trying to dissuade people, particularly the young, from consuming alcohol to excess. A hotel owner who is a friend of mine said to me some years ago that if we were fortunate enough to have had a couple of quid in our pockets when we were young and went out to drink, we might have got drunk, but nowadays the intent of young people is not just to drink but to get drunk and become blotto. There is too close an association between sport and alcohol. A campaign was mounted lately to try to remove the prohibition on selling alcohol on certain days. I believe the Government should consider having more days on which there is a prohibition, especially around holiday weekends when there are sports events. The level of hardship drinking causes individuals and families is enormous. We need to interfere and not just surrender to the drinks trade totally. We need to be a little more courageous than we are.

I join those Senators who expressed their concerns over the sex abuse scandals associated with fostering in the south east. This will probably be replicated in other areas. I concur fully with Senator Daly’s point that there needs to be greater accountability to ensure the protection of children. It does not exist. Obviously in this case it did not exist. It is interesting that this matter has come to light only through people leaking details to their politicians. In other words, it was with luck. I hope there will be a full investigation. It looks as if the HSE itself was trying to cover up. There is a lesson in that for us in that, at local level, some accountability tiers need to be built in for the HSE. At county level, perhaps, there needs to be a forum at which those concerned can be held to account not only for the type of activity in question but also for all the services delivered locally. This is not happening and the issues are becoming national issues.

I wish to propose an amendment to the Order of Business. Over recent weeks, I have sought a debate on housing to deal with various issues, including homelessness, local authority and social housing provision, the problems faced by distressed mortgage holders and the difficulties young people have in obtaining a mortgage. I propose a debate on this subject immediately following the discussion on the banking inquiry report today.