John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and other Deputies for their contributions to this valuable debate. All sides had an opportunity to express their opinions. I agree with most of what was said over the last two hours. One of the things I have learned from a lifelong involvement in sport as a player, manager and administrator is that teamwork is very important. Nobody is 100% right in any argument or report and nobody is 100% wrong. We should not expect to have 100% of our views included in anything we do. That is part of the discipline of sport and it also applies in this case. All of us want to end the abuse of alcohol, binge drinking and anti-social behaviour that is part of the culture of drinking. However, it is clear from Deputies' comments that some of us would travel a slightly different journey to achieve that end.

The question that must be asked of the measures we propose to implement is whether sporting organisations and participation in sport can thrive at elite and grassroots level so that young people can be disciplined and healthy and develop high self-esteem. Thousands of young people are not achieving high self-esteem from other activities, whether in academia or anywhere else. Sports provide the vehicle for them to develop those qualities. That is the end result that we all want. Evidence, reports and statistics have been mentioned. In my opening contribution I tried to summarise in stark outline the evidence from physicians and the alcohol action groups.

The key point they made was on the link between brand awareness and abuse.

All kinds of statistics can be used. I am not a mathematician, but it is possible to prove anything with statistics. There has been an increase in drinking in France in recent years, even though there is a ban on alcohol sponsorship. The ideal solution is to end alcohol sponsorship, but I am pointing to a statistic used in this debate.

My experience in sport, as a participant, manager and someone responsible for teams, is of sports organisations managing to change the drink culture of team participants. When I began my team management role, the Tuesday night training session for intercounty teams was used to sweat out the effects of the revelry on the Sunday night after a match, particularly during the winter months. That has totally changed and it is now difficult to get players to have a meal after a national league game because they must catch buses to go back to college. The sports organisations have attacked the culture of drinking in their sports and been successful in doing so.

I welcome this debate and all of the contributions to it. Deputy Timmy Dooley suggested we had dealt with the matter at the joint committee, but the committee comprises a small number of members and many other Deputies have contributed today, which is valuable. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar, has offered to attend a committee meeting after this or any other report within his remit to provide reasons certain recommendations can or cannot be implemented. Every report is about provoking debate and feeding into the decisions made by Ministers at the Cabinet table. That is how democracy works and I have no problem with it.

Deputy Róisín Shortall referred to the joint committee's failure to identify streams of sponsorship that could replace the funding lost and close the deficit that would emerge if alcohol sponsorship was to be banned. I did not see this as being the role of the committee. I would love to spend the whole year dealing with the issue, but we do not have the time to do so in the system we operate. I think the Deputy and I agree that it is vital that this should happen in the group set up under the aegis of the Minister of State, Deputy Alex White. The ideal solution is for sport and alcohol sponsorship to be divided, but let us obtain the funding to replace what will be lost. Deputy Mick Wallace had a simplistic idea that the Government pay €200 million to sports organisations. I would love for that to happen, but it is not realistic in current circumstances.

I agree with the point made by Deputy Jerry Buttimer on the imagery portrayed when US Presidents come to Ireland. That has nothing to do with sports sponsorship, but it needs to stop. Similarly, a range of issues must be addressed; sports sponsorship is just one part of the package. If alternative streams of funding are identified and secured, I will welcome this and be delighted to move on in a world where sports can thrive and everyone involved in sport can be healthier, disciplined and learn good practices within it.

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