John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the representatives for their presentations which were particularly well made. Mr. Brian Kavanagh's point on the digital age and the difficulty, if drinks sponsorship was banned in Ireland, of controlling visual images from events abroad which sponsor drinks was well made. In other words, would it be implementable? There are some issues to which I would like the representatives to respond. We had psychiatrists before the committee last week who would take a totally opposite view on this from that of the representatives. I ask them to respond to one of the comments that psychiatrists made. They said:

While common sense tells us that sponsorship promotes consumption, with typical arrogance the alcohol industry, and those in receipt of its money, demand that we provide them with the evidence that it does. It is this multi-billion euro industry that should be required to provide proof, if they have proof that alcohol sponsorship does nothing to increase alcohol-related harm.

I would be interested to hear the representatives' answer to that accusation.

Another point the psychiatrists strongly made was that over the years the drinks companies have infiltrated sport and now have control of it and that sport cannot shake itself free from them. I would be interested to hear the representatives response to that comment. The psychiatrists also made the point that millions of euro is being spent in our health service to treat people who are addicted to drink. They also made the point that children and young people involved in sport become very brand aware as a result of sponsorship. In other words, sport is used as the vehicle to make them brand aware at a very young age.

I would like Mr. Brian Kavanagh to respond to a further point. I asked the representatives of the GAA, rugby and soccer when they appeared before the committee about the presence of drink being consumed by those in the crowd during an event, be it big matches being played in the Aviva Stadium, Croke Park or elsewhere. The GAA bans people from bringing drink onto the terraces while the IRFU does not. It presents an awful sight to see somebody with a pint of larger in a plastic container in their hands as the event is going on. I would like to ask Mr. Brian Kavanagh about Horse Racing Ireland's policy on that at race courses - such as at Punchestown at the moment - around the country. How is the consumption of drink portrayed at race courses? Are children at race meetings allowed to wander in and out and are they being exposed to all of this or what prevention or education systems does it have in place? Does it use some of the money it get from the drinks industry to educate people to behave responsibly with regard to drink?