Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes. Opposition amendment No. 28 proposes to prohibit sports sponsorship by 31 December 2023. This topic was examined and debated at length prior to the publication of the Bill. A consensus could not be reached on a prohibition on sports sponsorship. There have been many discussions about the pros and cons of banning alcohol sponsorship of sports in Ireland. The main arguments in favour of a ban have centred around concerns about patterns of alcohol consumption and related harms and the "normalising" of drinking this sponsorship purportedly brings about. The arguments against such a ban were that the funding gap left by such a move would be extremely difficult to bridge, affecting all levels of sports, including grassroots levels for young people. There is a lack of specific evidence that such a ban would be effective. During discussions with the Joint Committee on Health and Children at the time, the then Minister, now Taoiseach, indicated that in the medium term a ban on alcohol sponsorship was not realistic. Therefore, as a beginning, the measures in the Bill aim to restrict the alcohol advertising permitted at sporting events and the sponsorship of events in which the majority of participants or competitors are children, events aimed particularly at children or events involving the driving or racing of motor vehicles. The Bill provides at section 21 that there must be a review of all the advertising provisions within three years of the commencement of that section. The issue of sports sponsorship will be revisited as part of this review. For these reasons, I do not propose to accept these amendments.