Áine Brady (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I am concerned about the high level of alcohol consumption in Ireland, especially among younger people. One in four deaths in young men between the ages of 15 and 34 is due to alcohol, compared with one in 12 deaths due to cancers and one in 25 deaths due to circulatory disease. Suicide rates have doubled in Ireland in the past 20 years. Alcohol is a factor in nearly half of all young male suicides.

As Minister of State with responsibility for health promotion, protecting the health of our young people from alcohol related harm is one of my key priorities. Participation in sport is a key element of the health and social well-being of our children as well as the rest of the population and I want to promote this very positive relationship between sport and health.

Following a Government decision in 2008, a working group was established to deliver on the commitment in the programme for Government to discuss the question of the sponsorship of sporting events by the alcohol industry with a view to phasing it out.

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