David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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We have discussed alcohol availability, promotion and price, which is a significant issue. On the other side of the coin, we have the consequences of alcohol use such as a person deciding to become inebriated to the extent that he or she engages in serious violence on the streets, intimidating others in the early hours of the morning, taking up Garda time and so forth. Are the penalties in place adequate? Should more be done? I refer to the issue of how people are treated in hospitals when they are brought in. I spoke recently to the family of an elderly lady who was on a hospital trolley in an accident and emergency department. There was a man on a trolley two down from her who was totally out of his mind and causing all kinds of ructions. She was frightened out of her mind.