Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and am delighted to hear he intends to publish the heads of the Bill in early January 2015. I note he spoke about the dangers of drink but if I may, I wish to bring another aspect to this issue. I ask that Members not forget the sale of cheap alcohol is contributing greatly to the decline in people shopping locally. Local retailers and publicans are struggling to compete with supermarkets, below-cost selling and massive advertising expenditure. Instead, customers are loading up on cheap alcohol in large supermarkets. As the Christmas season is under way - the Minister mentioned this - I also must highlight that almost one in three road deaths in Ireland are alcohol-related and such deaths are avoidable. In addition, it is known that excessive alcohol consumption can contribute to domestic violence and according to Women's Aid, alcohol often is a trigger or de-inhibitor and can be used as an excuse by the abuser for domestic violence. If this culture of harmful binge-drinking is to be tackled effectively, the key areas of alcohol pricing, marketing and availability must be tackled, beginning, as the Minister has just announced, with the swift of implementation of the public health (alcohol) Bill.

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