Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair for the opportunity to speak. It is interesting that much of the focus of the legislation is on the off-trade and licensed pubs and so on. From Ms Lawless's contribution, one can hear that alcohol has become much different from something that is just bought in pubs. Even our own figures show that the vast majority of sales are now off-sales in supermarkets, not even in off-licences. It is mostly supermarkets and the like. That is a real problem and legislation has a lot of catching up to do to meet that requirement. Will Ms Leonard respond to the last question about child protection? The work the Irish Community Action on Alcohol Network is doing interesting work in this area. The impact alcohol has on children and young people across the country is important and should be examined further. We need to look at how off-sales and the delivery of alcohol are going to work. Will Ms Leonard expand on her thoughts on that? If there is any time left after that, will Mr. Light speak more about the union matters? Perhaps this is not the proper legislation for that, maybe it is a matter for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Premium pay for after-hours work is important as is transport for staff when places close. Those issues should be addressed in this legislation.