Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)

I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to debate the following urgent matter, namely, the continued failure of the Government to deal with the issue of alcohol abuse in our society, particularly in respect of young people, whereby children as young as 12 or less now drink themselves into a stupor regularly, with all the personal and social problems thus caused; the lack of a role model among senior Government figures, as shown by the number of off-licences and pubs opened by politicians, not to mention drink driving charges; the lack of investment in community facilities, whereby more than one third of the sports budget is spent on the dog and horse racing industries; the need to provide such facilities as well as education and personal development opportunities; and the need to seriously tackle issues such as alcohol availability, ineffective fines and power of advertising for the commercial entities, before the situation becomes worse — the Dáil bar sets a bad example in this regard.

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