Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----in regard to the Irish consumer.

Deputy Griffin made a good point, that we have a poor record on bringing people back into Ireland from overseas. I wonder whether the two are related.

Another issue that was relayed to us, and we would be failing in our job if we did not bring it up here, is proficiency in English. An issue was raised a while ago about training. People like to have a taste of Ireland from point of view of food, culture and so on. I am not suggesting that these jobs should be the preserve of Irish people only, but there have been instances, as has been reported in the media recently, when one very high-profile publican raised this issue. Somebody coming to Ireland to get a flavour of the Irish tourism industry does not expect staff, especially in Dublin and places like that, to be fluent in Irish, but they should be able to converse in English.

With regard to publicans, Mr. O'Keeffe mentioned the increases in excise duty, and there is none for this year. To contrast the drinks industry and how it relates to its suppliers with the farmers and the way the they have engaged with the meat industry, what is the industry's engagement with the brewers? I do not see any of the brewers on the breadline or returning massive losses year-on-year. With their advertising revenue, none of them are on the breadline. They are all very formidable organisations, but the Drinks Industry Group is formidable as well, in the sense that it has a considerable number of members who have a considerable amount of buying power and are giving the product on to a considerable number of people. What are the brewers doing? The Government will rightly be challenged by the Drinks Industry Group on excise duty but what is it doing to get the brewers to bring down their prices? It must be a two-way street.

I have a family connection to the public house trade and one of the things that irks me is that it has been demonised. The name of the public house has been associated with all of the social ills. Nearly everything that is wrong with Ireland could be found inside the counter of the pub, if one believes some people in the media. Deputy McEntee asked what the witnesses are doing in terms of promoting the industry and Mr. Cribben referred to Fáilte Ireland. In regard to changing the image of the public house to somewhere it is safe to drink in that one's alcohol consumption is monitored, unlike what happens at home, where it is in an uncontrolled environment, have the witnesses any plans to promote that message of the social element as well as the cultural element, the safety aspect and the control element? For younger people especially, the amount of spirits that is consumed - especially among young women - in an uncontrolled environment is very worrying and I would like to get the witnesses' views on that.