Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the representatives for their presentations and for making the lives of everyone in this country an awful lot more interesting. Sport promotes health and well-being. I am involved in sport myself; I am involved in a snooker club and a kayaking club, and I do a lot of running and have run marathons, etc. If it was not for the organisations represented here, we could multiply the figure in terms of the damage that is done by obesity and alcohol abuse. Sport is also good from a mental health point of view. I do not know what I would on a Saturday if I could not follow, difficult and all as it is, QPR's results or those of Sligo Rovers at the weekend. It would mean that life would be much duller. For that, the representatives' organisations must be commended and well done to them.

The most important point made here today was made by Deputy Ann Phelan, namely, that the organisations have become dependent on the alcohol industry, and that is an awful pity. We need to establish exactly how dependent in monetary terms they have become on this industry. Ultimately, the organisations represented want to do what they do, namely, promote sport and to be successful at it. If they could do that without alcohol sponsorship in the morning, I believe they would run a mile from it. It is not good for the organisations and it is not good for young people that they are connected with it. As many people have said, we need to establish how much money the organisations get from the alcohol industry and how that can be replaced. We can throw into the mix a figure floating around that alcohol abuse costs this state €3 billion or more a year, depending on the figures one goes by. If that harm was reduced by 1%, that would result in a saving of €30 million. Would the saving of that amount cover the sponsorship figure? We need to consider this in a more holistic way and to consider the overall picture. While it would be a challenge to move away from alcohol sponsorship, I am firmly of the belief that it is unhealthy that there is any connection with alcohol.

Do we need a scientific study to tell us that it is a bad thing for an eight year old boy to walk around wearing a jersey with an alcohol advertisement on the front of it? We need to move away from that. The issue of Kit Kat and other product sponsorship was mentioned. Should such sponsorship also be banned? I would not go for a ban on outside alcohol advertising but sporting organisations need to look at the bigger picture. The bigger picture is that if children eat less sweet, rubbish and take-aways from McDonald's or wherever, we will have a higher standard of sportsperson. However, in order to achieve any of this, we need to kill the dependence sport has on the alcohol industry and on some other areas which do not help our health.

No one refers to the European Rugby Cup by that title; they refer to it as the Heineken Cup. That, to me, demeans what is a phenomenally good and exciting tournament. It has brought rugby to areas where people were not interested in it. However, do we need to have Heineken involved? Guinness sponsorship was also mentioned. The GAA's connection with Guinness unfortunately perpetuates the myth that Guinness is good for one. I like a pint, I like a pint of Guinness and I like a few pints but I am under no illusion that it is good for me because it is not. It is anything but good for one. As long as the organisations represented are connected to this industry, the more that myth can be perpetuated. I believe that alcohol advertising should be banned. I do not see the purpose of it. If any other substance such as cannabis was legalised in the future, the advertising of it should also be banned.