Mr. Philip Browne:

I will address the last point from Deputy Kenny. The paradox is that the perception is that alcohol advertising is there to increase market share or to increase consumption. This is the basic premise that lies behind the proposals put forward. In other words, the view is that if we do not have alcohol advertising in sport we will have some impact on sales in a positive way in terms of reducing sales of beer. The majority of sponsorship of alcohol in the country is for beer and it is largely around the two major brands of beer, Guinness and Heineken. I pointed out earlier that the reality is that sales have declined by 15% during the past five years, but there is no indication that there has been any reduction in the level of alcohol advertising of either Heineken or Guinness. Therefore, there is no evidence of that linkage. Deputy Harrington noted that wine sales have increased significantly during recent years but the fact is that there is not much advertising by the wine industry in the country. Fundamentally, we do not believe there is any empirical evidence showing the linkage and that is the fundamental issue for us.