Dr. Helen McAvoy:

I am grateful for the opportunity to present evidence on this important legislation. The Institute of Public Health was founded by the Departments of Health in Ireland and Northern Ireland. This year we mark our 25th anniversary. Our organisation provides evidence to inform public policy, including a long-standing focus on reducing alcohol-related harms. Our declaration of interest statement has been provided in the documentation.

There is consistent evidence that alcohol consumption remains high in Ireland and that alcohol-related harms affect most people in our society, whether they are drinkers or non-drinkers. The Public Health (Alcohol) Act is the main legislative instrument to support a reduction in alcohol harms. It includes measures to reduce the appeal, accessibility and affordability of alcohol. The effectiveness of this Act relies on policy coherence across government. The impact can be reduced or enhanced by other regulatory decisions. The general scheme of the sale of alcohol Bill 2022 includes some useful provisions to regularise alcohol licensing. Ultimately, it provides for extended drinking hours in both indoor and outdoor venues. These extended trading hours are proposed not just in pubs and clubs but in holiday camps, sporting clubs, trains and airports. The Government's commitment to modernise alcohol licensing and enhance Ireland's nightlife is really welcome but we are concerned that the measures in this proposed Bill could have significant unintended consequences, particularly increasing the overall availability of alcohol, thereby increasing consumption and alcohol-related harms with increased demands for our emergency and health services. Secondary to that, there is a risk of reinforcing alcohol consumption as central to the experience of our rich social, cultural, leisure and sporting activity and perpetuating cultural norms around alcohol in those settings.

With this in mind, we invite the committee members to consider five key recommendations. First, to commission a health impact assessment to fully consider the potential health effects from the measures proposed in this proposed Bill; second, to establish a public health criterion within the application, determination and renewal of all forms of licence in Parts 3, 4 and 10; third, to ensure that the HSE is an identified notifying party to all licence and-or permit applications Parts 3, 4 and 5; fourth, to seek an expert assessment of the likely impact of extended trading hours on drink and drug driving and an appropriate risk management approach to support the goals of Ireland’s Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030; and fifth, to review the stigmatising approach to "drunken persons" and require additional measures to enhance the duty of care of licence-holders to patrons where this Bill facilitates prolonged periods of alcohol supply on their premises.