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

I had worries about alcohol advertising in sport and elsewhere before I attended the committee, having read quite a bit about the subject. Some of the things the heads of the main sports organisations said to the committee on the last occasion were astounding. They did not fit with what I had read about the damage sponsorship by drinks companies of sports events and in general caused. Having listened to the delegates, I would like to have a look at some of the studies to which they have referred. I believe what they are saying, which is that it is not good and is, in fact, very bad.

The suggestion that the main sports organisations are dependent on sponsorship is true, which they showed by saying at our meeting that sponsorship was not the problem but the selling of alcohol in supermarkets at low prices. That argument is not good enough. It is the sort of argument I have with my daughters when one of them does something wrong and tries to get off by suggesting her sister has done something even more wrong. That does not actually let the first child off. They have still done something wrong and it needs to be changed. In fairness to the sports organisations, they told us that if they could get the money somewhere else, they would not go near sponsorship by drinks companies. We must listen to this. They need the money and will not have it if we ban such sponsorship. We must find another way to get the money.

There was a suggestion about using the money generated through excise duties for sport. The committee has been told that alcohol abuse costs the country €3.4 billion every year. If we could reduce the figure by 1%, it would save the State €34 million. We did not get a figure from the three main sports organisations the last day, but from what they told us, I get the impression that the money they receive through sponsorship does not amount to much more than €34 million. The delegates have made it quite clear that it is not good to have a connection between sport and the alcohol industry and I cannot see how anyone could argue with them. If we ban alcohol advertising within sport, we must start to explore alternative revenue streams. If it means putting an extra penny on a pint or a short and investing the revenue generated in sport, it must be done.

Alcohol advertising should not only be banned in sport, it should be banned full stop. The idea that one would promote - another word for which is "push" - a drug to young people cannot be accepted. In reality, people will drink in any event. I drink and like to do so. Every now and then I like to get drunk, which is perhaps not the politically correct thing to say, but I recognise the damage alcohol causes.

Deputy O'Mahony wondered would we end up banning alcohol. That would be ridiculous. They tried that in the early part of the last century in the United States and to this day there is a Mafia as a result. That would not be a good way to go. Deputy O'Mahony's point that somehow alcohol is not really a drug is very important. It is a drug and until we face that fact we will never really solve the problem because a drug is not defined by its legality or otherwise. It is a pharmacological question. It has nothing to do with legality. Alcohol is a drug. It is a mind-altering substance. I know. I have tried it. To keep half-denying that means that we will never deal with the problem. There is an idea that if alcohol were banned, which it would not be, other drugs might be legalised. Maybe we can learn something from places which have gone down the road of partial legality, or tolerance as they call it in Holland. Marijuana cannot be advertised there. The places where one purchases the drug cannot be called marijuana shops or anything like that. They are called 'coffee shops'. This is done so that young people will not walk by them and say "Oh look, this is where a certain substance is sold." It is just another coffee shop. They are shielded from that.

What the witnesses have told us today is very important. I look forward to reading more about it but they have further convinced me that alcohol sponsorship must be taken out of sport. The sporting organisations will survive. I want to make one final point.