Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

The only person who should hang his head in shame is the Deputy for making such a contribution and abusing the position he is afforded in the House. However, it is welcome that the Deputy has raised the matter as it provides me with an opportunity to deal with the inaccuracies and nonsense spoken in recent days.

The Department of Health and Children and the strategic task force on alcohol had concerns about alcohol advertisements, particularly in regard to content, placement and marketing practices. One of the recommendations of the task force was to reduce the exposure of young people to alcohol advertisements. The Department drafted the heads of a Bill to restrict, not ban, alcohol advertising. The heads were subsequently approved by Government. In parallel with this process, the Department approached representatives from the relevant industries — not the other way around. The representatives from the advertising, drinks, communications and media sectors were informed of the Department's concerns and that legislation was being drafted. The industry acknowledged the concerns and asked for time to respond on an incremental basis.

The first response was to establish Central Copy Clearance Ireland, CCCI. The function of this body is to vet the content of alcohol advertisements to ensure adherence to the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland, ASAI, codes and the 1995 ministerial broadcast media code. Agreement has been reached with all media — television, radio, cinema etc. — that all alcohol advertisements must carry a CCCI stamp approval number before they will accept it for broadcast or display. The CCCl system has been in place since mid-2003 and has had a significant impact on the number of complaints upheld by the ASAI.

In response to the Department's concerns about placement, the industry proposes to introduce a system of audience profiling. It has been agreed that no advertising for alcohol will be booked by the drinks industry or placed by the broadcasters in any programming where more than 33% of the audience is under the age of 18 years. In addition, no advertising for alcohol will be placed in any programming specifically aimed at children or young people. This applies to television, radio and cinema. Some of the agreements reached in regard to outdoor advertising include a restriction that alcohol advertising will not be placed within 100 metres of schools and buses, and bus shelters will not contain wraparound alcohol advertisements.

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