Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

Fine Gael is calling on the Government to put in place a co-ordinated approach to the preparation and implementation of a national alcohol strategy. It must also provide the necessary resources and direction to the Garda to ensure that existing legislation is enforced and public order related activities are tackled in a consistent way throughout the country.

The clear thinking of the Fine Gael Party, together with the anxiety of 40 Fianna Fáil backbenchers, has forced the Minister to abandon the so-called café bar approach. It is already clear that we have an alcohol problem in this country which will have major effects on the health of the nation in coming years unless we come to grips with it. It is absurd to suggest that providing further access to alcohol through café bars is a solution.

In recent years, the closure of Garda barracks in many rural towns is such that late-night drinking and other activities outside food outlets in the early hours of the morning have become some of the major sources of anxiety in these areas, especially for the elderly. In May 2002, the strategic task force on alcohol, commissioned by the Department of Health and Children, informed us that, in the ten years to 1999, alcohol consumption per capita soared by 41%. It also informed us that in 2000 our alcohol consumption was second only to that of Luxembourg, at a rate of 11 litres per head compared with the EU average of 9.1.

The second report by the task force, issued in September 2004, stated categorically that the Government's aim should be to reduce Ireland's total per capita consumption to the EU average and that to do so, it should restrict any further increases in physical availability of alcohol, including by putting restrictions on the number of outlets and the time of sale.

Once again it is clear that the Government appoints committees to provide advice and ignores same. I am not a teetotaller and I enjoy the company of people in bars and lounges to some extent. However, if the Government is serious about its commitments, it must decrease rather than increase the number of places where alcohol is available and restrict the times at which it is available.

The Minister advises immigrants seeking asylum, who are under extraordinary pressure, that they are telling cock-and-bull stories but his stories about providing 2,000 extra gardaí were such. All we are doing is replacing those gardaí who are retiring on normal grounds and those who are leaving the force through frustration. If the 2,000 extra gardaí were in place and civilian personnel were used for other duties, there would be no need to close five Garda barracks in five towns in my constituency and that of the Ceann Comhairle.

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