Dáil debates

Friday, 8 November 2013

Report of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications: Motion

 

11:40 am

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

We became aware that the Government was about to introduce legislation dealing with recommendations of the national substance misuse strategy. One of the recommendations related to the phasing out, and the eventual banning, of sports sponsorship by alcohol companies. As the remit of the committee covers sport and sporting organisations, we felt it was appropriate to examine the issue. We were also aware that the sporting organisations and the medical professionals hold strong but opposing views on the matter. We felt it was important to get a balance on the presentations and contributions.

Before coming to the conclusions and recommendations of the report, I welcome the extensive measures announced recently by the Minister of State, Deputy White, and the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, and I compliment them and their Cabinet colleagues on producing these measures. When we launched our report, it was alleged that nothing would be done but this demonstrates something will be done and I support it.

It is correctly acknowledged by all that there has been a problem with alcohol use and abuse in Ireland for many years. It is acknowledged that this problem needs to be tackled and addressed once and for all. It is my contention that the problem relates particularly to the pricing and availability, as well as advertising, marketing and sponsorship, of the product and I note that the recent package of measures addressed all of these issues. We have arrived at a stage in Ireland where doing nothing is not an option.

The committees took evidence from the GAA, the IRFU, the FAI, Horse Racing Ireland, Alcohol Action Ireland, the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland, the umbrella group the Federation of Irish Sports, representing over 100 sporting organisations, and the drinks industry. All of the sporting organisations accepted the dangers of misuse of alcohol to their members and all of them have educational programmes and activities that raise the awareness of the dangers of misuse and abuse of alcohol.

The committee was particularly impressed by the GAA alcohol and substance abuse prevention, ASAP, programme, which is supported by the HSE. It might be used as a template for programmes that should be considered by other sporting bodies. Sharing of programmes is taking place. The IRFU programme is called the alcohol code of ethics, ACE, and the FAI outlined its social inclusion measures, such as late night football leagues, as a tool to tackle important social issues including anti-social behaviour, which primarily relates to under age drinking.

The medical professionals outlined in stark terms the effect alcohol has on the people of Ireland. It kills 1,200 people per year in Ireland and each day there are 2,000 people in hospital beds due to the abuse of alcohol. Some 60,000 children will start drinking this year.

As well as the physical damage to the health of our young people, the medical professionals stated that alcohol marketing and advertising influences young people's behaviour. One of their key points is that people exposed to alcohol branding began drinking at an earlier age which can lead to subsequent alcohol dependence. The drinks industry stated that the misuse of alcohol was not in the interests of the industry. It said it would support any measures and work with government and sporting organisations in order to lead to a reduction in misuse. The industry is against what it has termed eye-catching but ineffectual bans, pointing out that alcohol consumption has fallen by more than 19% since 2001 and that the consumption of beers and lagers, which are the most actively sponsored, has reduced by 9%, whereas the consumption of wine, which is not involved in any sponsorship, has increased by 13%.

The key point made by all the sporting organisations, including Horse Racing Ireland and the Federation of Irish Sports, is that the banning or phasing out of sponsorship would lead to a significant gap in funding for sports and sporting organisations, particularly in the current climate, when Government and other funding streams has been reduced, year on year, because of the economic downturn. Government funding to the Irish Sports Council has decreased from €57.6 million in 2008 to €43 million this year and it will be reduced to €40 million in 2014.

I refer to the report's recommendations which have the majority agreement but not the unanimous approval of the members of the committee. I welcome the opportunity for the report to be debated in the House for all opinions on the effect of alcohol sponsorship to be heard. The committee recommended:

A. Sponsorship by the Alcohol Drinks Industry should remain in place until such time as it can be replaced by other identifiable streams of comparable funding.

B. A Code of Practice for the consumption of alcohol within stadia should be drawn-up by all sporting organisations.

C. A fixed percentage of all sponsorship received by each and every organisation (sporting, cultural, arts, music etc.) from the alcohol drinks industry, should be ring-fenced and paid into a central fund to be administered by an appropriate body. That fund should be used exclusively for Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention Programmes.

D. Sponsorship of sports and sporting events should be treated in the same way as sponsorship of the arts, music and other festivals.

E. A Code should be introduced to make it mandatory for all brand owners and rights-holders to provide responsible training in selling, advertising and marketing and to promote responsible drinking at all sponsored events.

F. All sporting organisations should be encouraged to support programmes which contribute to social inclusion in order to reduce the abuse of alcohol, particularly among young people.

G. A prohibition on sponsorship by the alcohol industry should only be considered if it is done on a pan-European basis in order to ensure that Irish sports and sporting organisations are not operating at a disadvantage relative to their international competitors.
The first recommendation ties in with one of the measures recently announced by the Minister of State, Deputy Alex White as part of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill, which provides for the setting up of a working group chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach to report within 12 months to consider the value, feasibility and the implications of regulating sponsorship of major sporting events by alcohol companies and to consider the financial implications and alternative sources of funding for sporting organisations to replace potential lost revenue arising from the ban. This important working group will deal with the issues which our committee also discussed.

There has been much reaction and comment about the report of the committee. The recommendation of a ban on alcohol sponsorship received the most headlines and this was also the case in the recommendations of the misuse of alcohol strategy report from the Department of Health. The recommendations should be regarded as an overall package rather than concentrating on one issue. The impression was abroad during the summer that if sports sponsorship was to be banned in the morning, all the problems associated with alcohol abuse and misuse in Ireland would be solved. This is not the case. The issues of the unit pricing of alcohol and its availability are more important than the question of sponsorship. I agree that the question of sponsorship must be dealt with and I welcome the fact this is happening.

I hope the working group will be cognisant of the financial pressures. It is unfortunate that this issue needs to be dealt with at a time when sporting bodies are under significant pressure. I hope the group can identify and secure replacement funding if alcohol sponsorship is to be removed as an option for sporting bodies.

Sporting bodies would have no issue with the ending of alcohol sponsorship if these alternative streams were secured and available. For example, the GAA has finished its sponsorship of the hurling championships by a drinks company. The GAA is making the effort to finish with sponsorship by a drinks company but many organisations feel unable to do in the current economic circumstances.

The committee report recommended a code of practice within stadia. Drink is consumed on the terraces at some sporting events. This is not the practice in Croke Park but it is seen at some rugby and soccer international matches. A code of practice should be drawn up to end that practice. A fixed percentage of alcohol sales should be ring-fenced for the treatment of alcohol and substance abuse. The report recommended that sponsorship of sports and sporting events should be treated in the same way as sponsorship of the arts, music and other festivals. A prohibition on sponsorship by the alcohol industry should only be considered if it is done on a pan-European basis in order to ensure that Irish sports and sporting organisations are not operating at a disadvantage relative to their international competitors. We do not want to see sponsorship moving to another jurisdiction while we are left with the problems. We cannot put a fence around Ireland in this digital age. We do not want the Gold Cup to be sponsored in Kempton Park rather than being held at the Curragh or Leopardstown, for example.

I am aware that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar fully supports the main aim of the national substance misuse strategy to reduce levels of alcohol consumption and binge-drinking in Ireland. However, I share his concern about the impact on sporting organisations of a ban on sponsorship by alcohol companies. There would be significant negative impacts on the development and availability of sport at grassroots level and on our efforts to increase sporting participation at local level. Major international sporting events create significant tourism benefits and a ban would make it much more difficult to attract very beneficial international events - the rugby World Cup was mentioned - to Ireland.

These issues must be addressed, but if there is to be a ban, it should be done in such a way as to allow for the replacement of the funding streams.

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