Mr. Peter O'Brien:

We take our responsibility very seriously. Everyone in our industry is also a parent and someone who knows the reality of the world we live in. We are incredibly responsible in how we advertise. I wish to deal directly with the point about age. The Chairman is wrong. Every single person in an advertisement for alcohol in this country is over the age of 25, not just because their passport says it but because they look over the age of 25. We have some of the most restrictive rules. The suggestion that anyone in those advertisements is in any way appealing to teenagers is simply incorrect. They are the rules we agree with the Department of Health and they are religiously enforced. Nobody can advertise alcohol to an audience that has more than 25% under the age of 18. The reality is that it is much more like approximately 15%. Of course underage people get access to everything in life. That is the reality of the world we live in, but it is simply incorrect to say that there is any targeting of anybody under the legal drinking age.

In response to Deputy O’Mahony, on the direct quote last week about consumption, I can only repeat again, there is no wine sponsorship in this country yet consumption is up 13%. There is significant beer sponsorship in this country and consumption is down 9%. The reality is that there is no correlation between sponsorship and alcohol misuse. What we want to do in beer sponsorship is ask one to drink one type of pint rather than another. That is what we do, and that is the reality of the world we live in. Consumption has declined by 19%. The situation is clear.

On the point about France, as people have said, there is a ban and teenage drinking is on the increase according to a European report. It is declining in Ireland and increasing in France. Once again, there is no correlation between sponsorship and misuse. We must deal with misuse. The point we are making today is that the lever of sponsorship is not one that will impact in any way on dealing with the problem.