Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I listened to the Minister of State and he had not much to say. The senior Minister, Deputy McDowell, had a good deal to say about café bar licences, but we found out who likes the pints and who likes the wine. The Progressive Democrats members like the wine but they are not going to have the cafés, and the Fianna Fáil members like the pints and they are going to have the pubs. That is who won this argument.

I want to tell the Minister of State that this Government is over. It was decided yesterday at the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting. They do not want the Progressive Democrats any more, so there is going to be a new coalition of Fine Gael and Labour. When we get into Government we will deal with this problem properly. The sooner we get in the better because the current Administration has made a mess of it.

I listened to the Minister, Deputy McDowell, the Progressive Democrats and Fianna Fáil and this was deregulation by the back door. They got away with it with the pharmacies but will not this time because the publicans are a powerful lobby. The Fianna Fáil Party knows about lobbies because its members hold their clinics in pubs, as I do, although I hate to say it. I wish we could hold them elsewhere, but we cannot. They know that publicans would deal with them in the next general election.

The backbenchers have won the battle on this one and the Government is over. Deputy Healy-Rae and the other Independent Members should be getting ready for the next six months because this Government is over. The Minister who always boasted he would not back down had to do so yesterday. When he went into the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting he had to back down. I thought they were all dead for the last three years because there was not a word from them. This was the first issue on which they stood up and were counted. When the vote is taken, I hope these backbenchers will walk up the stairs with us or use their little fingers to ensure that this legislation is dead and buried forever.

The Minister of State who has responsibility for health was very concerned about smoking but did not show much regarding alcoholic drink. Drink is the greatest killer in Ireland and the main reason for family break up, yet we have done nothing about it. The reason is the Government's vested interest in terms of taxation.

No licensed premises should be open after midnight. The decision of the House three or four years ago to extend opening hours was a national disgrace for which we are paying a price in terms of anti-social behaviour throughout the country. We see people come out of licensed premises at 1 a.m., 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. when they should be in bed resting before work the next day.

Why can Ireland not be like America where people when invited to a party from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., arrive at 8 p.m. and leave at 11 p.m.? In Ireland, when one is invited to a party which is to begin at 8 p.m. and finish at a specified time, it will not start until 1 a.m. and will probably not finish until 3 a. m. This is the kind of culture the Government and everybody else have promoted for the past 20 years. It is time to get serious about drink. The Government must have a proper campaign and policy on the abuse of alcohol because it is destroying families, communities and the country. It is time we woke up and realised we have a serious problem.

No sporting organisation should accept sponsorship from drinks companies. We should promote healthy living and sport and should not depend on Guinness, Budweiser, Bass or any such company for sponsorship. The House should legislate to provide that if sporting organisations accept this kind of sponsorship, they will not receive lottery funding from the State.

I hope I had a little more to say on this issue than the Minister of State. The Government must get real and tackle our serious alcohol problem. Opening more cafés and bars and providing for more licences will not resolve the problem but create further difficulties.

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