John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

Let me refer to the speech made by the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Parlon, who referred to the additional money being allocated for flood protection measures. He spoke glowingly of the flood maps. While the flood maps are fine and indicate to people that they are in a vulnerable area, they do very little to protect people. Deputy Parlon is the Minister of State who told people that if they lived in a vulnerable area, they should ensure they did not put an expensive carpet on the ground floor and that they should put their valuables upstairs. This is of very little consolation to my constituents in Ringsend, Irishtown, Ballsbridge and Sandymount, in addition to those living along the Dodder, because they are not receiving any extra money to implement flood protection measures. They want to know what the Government is doing.

Members have referred to the €14 billion allocated for the health service. I agree that we require more money for the health service but it should be spent on an efficient one. Many measures that could be taken in respect of health cost absolutely nothing. In this regard, I applaud the former Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, who decided quite courageously to introduce a smoking ban in pubs. I gave him my full support. The ban cost absolutely nothing and will save money in the longer term.

What is the Government doing about alcohol? There is nothing of significance in the Book of Estimates to address this very serious problem, which costs us €2.6 billion every year. Alcohol poisoning is causing considerable health problems, including chronic liver disease and cirrhosis. Alcohol is also related to suicide. The number of admissions to accident and emergency units as a result of alcohol is astounding. Some 40% of road deaths, 30% of road accidents and 37% of all drownings are related to alcohol.

The breakdown of health care costs reveals that those pertaining to alcohol amount to €433 million. Road accidents cost €322 million and alcohol-related crime costs €147 million. Given that the Government has refused to tackle the problem of alcohol abuse, this represents money down the drain. The alcohol products Bill, to which I referred time and again in this House, was shelved at the behest of the alcohol industry. It is disgraceful that a powerful lobby can affect legislation in that way. It is about time the Government got real on the alcohol problem.

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