Ms Suzanne Costello:

I, too, thank the committee for the invitation to appear today. It is a substantial achievement to have brought this legislation forward. The measures it contains have the potential to save many lives and make our society a healthier, safer and better one in which to live. As Professor Barry has focused on labelling, pricing and enforcement, and members have also heard a detailed presentation on minimum unit pricing from Dr. John Holmes, I will focus on alcohol marketing and advertising, including the sponsorship of major sporting events by alcohol brands.

The history of alcohol regulation in Ireland is not one of which we can be proud. We have paid, and continue to pay, a very heavy price for this. We are the second heaviest binge drinkers in the world and our children are growing up in a society where three people die every day due to alcohol. It is a society in which liver disease rates are spiralling, increasing fourfold in the past 20 years, with the greatest level of increase among 15 to 34 year olds, in which more than 100,000 children are suffering due to a parent’s drinking, and in which alcohol is a prominent driving factor in serious issues such as crime, suicide and mental illness, as well as a huge burden on our under-pressure health service and State finances. Prior to the public health (alcohol) Bill the lack of action on alcohol harm is a stark reflection of how we have normalised not only heavy and harmful drinking in Ireland but also the huge costs that come with it, primarily the loss of so many lives and the serious harm suffered by young and vulnerable members of society due to alcohol.

Many people seem to ask why so many children and young people in Ireland start to drink so early and then drink so often and so much, habits which sadly stay with the majority of Irish people into their adult life. When it comes to drinking, young people are, in many ways, a product of their environment and we have created an environment for them that is saturated with alcohol, so much so that many of us fail even to recognise it anymore and are willing to turn a blind eye to the harms that come with it. As Dr. Patrick Kenny pointed out to the committee on Tuesday, there is no longer any debate surrounding the impact of alcohol marketing and advertising, including sponsorship, on children. A significant number of large studies which tracked children over time, measuring their exposure to marketing and their alcohol consumption, have shown that the more alcohol marketing to which children are exposed, the more likely they are to start to consume alcohol and to drink more if they have already started consuming alcohol.

Only vested interests continue to deny this evidence while simultaneously spending millions finding more creative ways to reach and engage people and influence them to drink their products. Even if we were to accept that children are not targeted directly by the alcohol industry, to say that children are not influenced by alcohol marketing is equivalent to saying that they only suddenly begin to see and hear on their 18th birthday. Sport, in which we quite rightly encourage children to participate, both for the physical benefits of exercise and the many other important values it can teach them, is one of the primary vehicles the alcohol industry uses to sell its products in Ireland. Sponsorship of sporting events by alcohol brands is an especially potent form of sales promotion, and comprehensive evidence shows that children are not only exposed to a large amount of alcohol promotion through sports sponsorship, but that their beliefs and behaviour in relation to alcohol are influenced by the alignment of alcohol brands with their sporting heroes and everything they represent. Every day Irish children are continually exposed to positive, risk-free images of alcohol and its use in many different ways and through many different channels, including social media, television, billboards, sports sponsorship, product placement in films and music videos. These all work to reinforce one another and are sophisticated and powerful influences on children’s drinking expectations and behaviour. Ultimately, they all work together to sell more alcohol.

Due to the failure to introduce effective regulations and legislation governing this area, the alcohol industry has in effect become Irish children and young people’s primary educator on alcohol.

Therefore, proposals to place existing voluntary codes governing alcohol advertising and alcohol sponsorship of sport on a statutory footing are deeply concerning. To date, regulation of the promotion of alcohol has been structured and undertaken by the alcohol industry itself, mainly through these voluntary codes of practice. The alcohol industry writes the rules it sees fit to adhere to and decides whether they are being obeyed. Like most systems of self-regulation in Ireland, the alcohol industry’s codes have proven to be wholly ineffective and have done nothing to protect the young and vulnerable members of society from alcohol harm.

Self-regulation is no regulation. We did not allow the tobacco industry to regulate itself and the robust legislation put in place by Government in relation to tobacco, including marketing, advertising and sponsorship, has seen the number of Irish children taking up smoking fall significantly. If the Government fails to act to phase out alcohol sponsorship of sport and allows the existing self-regulatory codes governing marketing and advertising to pass, unexamined by independent experts in public health, onto the Statute Book, it will have allowed the alcohol industry to write the law that governs alcohol marketing and advertising in Ireland and spurned the opportunity to make a significant difference to the health and well-being of future generations of Irish people.