Mr. Barry Dooley:

I propose to address a number of the questions asked by members. To answer Deputy Billy Kelleher's question on whether I agree that Ireland has a problem with young people binge drinking, of course, I agree with him. There is a problem with alcohol abuse and I would not try to shirk from that issue in any way. The role of the Association of Advertisers in Ireland, AAI, is to promote and defend the reasonable freedom to advertise responsibly. We have the strictest advertising code in the world and adhere to the Advertising Authority for Ireland's advertising code, as all advertisers must. I do not propose to go through all five of the relevant pages of the code, but I can submit copies to the committee after the meeting. The key section dealing with advertising to children reads:

Marketing communications should not be directed at children or in any way encourage them to start drinking. Accordingly:

(a) Anyone depicted in an alcohol marketing communication should be aged over 25 and should appear to be over 25...

This means that the people who appear in beer advertisements, that is, the people about whom young people may or may not comment, are aged over 25 years and also appear to be aged over 25 years. I make this point because it is important that it be acknowledged.

That brings me to CopyClear. Members will have received handouts of an annual report from CopyClear. This reinforces the point that Ireland is one of the markets with the strictest advertising codes in the world. CopyClear was established 12 years ago and exists nowhere else but in New Zealand. Funded by the alcohol companies, it is independently run by the Association of Advertisers in Ireland, which I represent, and the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland, IAPE. It has four full-time copy clearance managers who work twice weekly to assess and approve all advertising copy. They make their assessments based on the code of the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland. It is very important that members are conscious of this because many people are not aware of CopyClear's existence. Proof that the body has been operating successfully for the past 12 years lies in the fact that in 2013 and thus far in 2014 the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland has not upheld a single advertising complaint.

Anecdotally, members may hear that children love an advertisement for Heineken, Guinness or an another product. The industry is doing its level best to behave responsibly, adhere to the codes and legislation in place and has independently established Central Copy Clearance Ireland which is trading as CopyClear.

This is one of the reasons advertising in Ireland is among the strictest in the world.