Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

That is disappointing. I do not understand why the Minister is treating junk food advertising targeted at children differently from alcohol advertising targeted at children. Nor do I see why he is treating junk food advertising targeted at children differently from alcohol advertising targeted at adults. My proposals would complement what the Department of Health and Children and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Minister's Department should be doing on alcohol advertising, and would ensure that we have a holistic Government approach towards alcohol in this country. We need to give this independent regulator the power to do something about it, or to threaten to do something about it if it is not get the results it is looking for, but we are not doing that. Instead, we are relying on what's already there, which is disappointing.

With regard to amendment No. 47, there is a big difference between requiring an authority to come into the Oireachtas each year and discuss with Members how codes of practice are working and the amendments they would like to put in place to improve them, and requiring the authority to appear once every four years and allow the committee to call the chairperson or CEO before the committee if that is deemed appropriate by the committee. One of these styles is proactive as it ensures that there is an annual debate between policy makers and the regulator, while the other requires policy makers to make that happen by using the powers available to them.

See this speech in context