Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I have read the card supplied by the AAI and bullet point No. 3 reads: "We will fight their corner with regulators and politicians looking out for impending threats to advertising freedoms". I probably speak for every person sitting in this side of the room when I say we are going to do everything we can to protect public health. Professor Frank Murray and other professors have told us that every day three people die as a result of the overconsumption of alcohol. Every night between 1,500 and 1,800 beds are taken up by patients as a result of alcohol abuse. Every week here we talk about the plight of patients on trolleys as there are no beds available in hospitals. We could solve this problem by tackling the issue of alcohol abuse. I found it disingenuous when the AAI stated, "We will fight their corner with regulators and politicians..." Let us remember that politicians do their best to protect public health.

When Professor Aiden McCormick attended the committee, he sought to have a levy imposed on alcohol advertising and €60 million spent on research. What is the reaction of the AAI to his suggestion? An enormous amount money is spent in promoting drink. With their expertise, will the delegates tell us how we, as politicians in speaking out to promote the health of the nation, should convey the message that people should not over-consume alcohol?

Women are dying from breast cancer. There is a belief that if one consumes alcohol, breast cancer will probably recur. Alcohol has also been implicated in cases of suicides and dealing with other issues in society. Therefore, I find it hard to believe that AAI can promote drink. There are pubs in my constituency, not just off-licences, that sell drink cheaply. At the weekend one such pub sold a glass of gin for €3 and still could afford to advertise. I shall not name it to prevent its identity from being splashed all over the newspapers tomorrow, giving it free advertising, but when one looks at newspapers one will see that one can buy a bottle of vodka for between €15 and €20. I recall that one could not buy that amount of alcohol for the same price 20 years ago. Every newspaper has full page advertisements for alcohol, at the bottom of which are listed all of the special offers, which is not good. I know that the organisation has defended advertising, but we want to defend health policy. I ask the organisation to help us in getting the message across to curb the use of alcohol. Perhaps I might consider suggesting we adopt a alcohol advertising levy.