Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

People in my constituency, especially parents, are very worried about the excess amount of alcohol being drunk by young people. There is a culture of late nights and long sessions, starting at the beginning of the weekend. At a clinic recently I met a young man who had run into some difficulties because of excess alcohol consumption. He told me about his difficulties and said the reason was that he had spent the entire weekend drinking. He and his friends had got involved in something for which they were really sorry. Half way through the conversation he asked me: "What else have we to do?" I felt really sorry for that young man, as I do for all young people who ask themselves what else they have to occupy them. As a society, that is something we must address.

Deputy Bannon referred to sporting organisations. There are a huge number of competitive sports and we all hope for our own counties to succeed. However, many people could participate in sports. As a country we have neglected sport and allowed alcohol to take over. There must be another way that young people can channel their time. Perhaps I am departing from the Bill but we must examine this as a country, particularly when people have more free time and longer weekends. The culture has changed and we must deal with it. Whether the changes were brought about by Deputy Flanagan, he related the views of many small business people and small supermarket owners. When this Bill was published, they were up in arms and I have never had as many letters from people in my constituency who were concerned about legislation. The changes are very welcome and sensible.

The Minister's approach of talking to the users is a good one and when something sound is done, we should commend it. I commend the Minister on dealing with the problems of small supermarket owners, who thought they would have to chain off their wine areas. It should not be made any more difficult for the person who goes to mass on Sunday and buys wine in the local supermarket. In effect, this measure was in the legislation but was removed, which I welcome.

Other issues should have been addressed in this Bill, such as the fake identification cards that young people are using right around the country. We must address this matter. I have heard of several instances of young people with forged identification cards. If we are serious about tackling under age drinking, we must address this, but there is no mention of it in the Bill. While we are discussing under age drinking and the problems related to it, we should tackle the causes of it. Top of the list should be measures to deal with fake identification cards. We can see it in cities, towns and villages. The Bill makes no reference to this and I wonder if we are serious about tackling the culture of drinking.

We need more presence and a different direction from the Garda Síochána. We must take them out of the barracks and put them onto the streets where people are located. In any town or village where people are socialising at the weekend, gardaí should be on the street. If young people who have a few extra drinks see a garda walking up and down the street, they will behave in a different way. We need a greater Garda presence around the country. Someone has taken the policy decision that gardaí should be in groups of two or three in a squad car or on country roads, but they should be on the streets in order to be effective. Unless that decision is made, we are not serious about tackling the problem.

If we are to tackle our drinking culture, we must educate our young people about the harmful effects on people's health. We have only skirted around the problem. There is much to be learned from organisations such as Alcoholics Anonymous that could be brought into schools. The area of drugs is within the remit of the Minister of State, Deputy John Curran. We have failed to drum into people the harmful effects of alcohol. Young people will listen if they are told in a responsible and proper way. An example is the way young people deal with drink driving. They just do not do it because they have been properly educated. They get taxis and make arrangements. The same thing should be done with the harmful effects of drink on our young population.

I have heard the issue of alcopops raised several times. When Deputies John Deasy and Olwyn Enright were first elected to this House, they said the issue of alcopops should be addressed. We must discuss it, but it is not included in the Bill.

See this speech in context