Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----as well as segregation and separation within commercial outlets. There will be proper regulation of the advertising and marketing where sponsorship is involved.

The Irish cricket team is in India. It failed to get sponsorship from the companies the Deputy mentioned which are not associated with either drink or tobacco. For the last number of years the Irish Open has had to be funded by the taxpayer through Fáilte Ireland. There was no take-up from commercial companies, where one might think it would be easy to sponsor such an event.

It is true that there are serious mental health issues in the country. That is the reason ring-fenced moneys have been made available for the past number of years by the Government and there is more help available then ever before. Young people in particular are advised to talk about these matters and to open up, discuss and connect with their peers.

I do not accept the Deputy's statement that the Government has caved to vested interests. This matter has been discussed here for six years and nobody has done anything about it.

In this case, the Government has acted decisively. Everyone will have an opportunity to say his or her piece during the course of the discussion on the Bill being drafted by the Minister. The Bill will set out the areas in which there will be regulation and a serious impact in terms of labelling, minimum unit pricing, enforcement powers for environmental health officers, regulation of advertising and the marketing of alcohol. All of these things will have an impact on access, affordability and the way alcohol is perceived by young people and vulnerable drinkers.

Dr. Loftus has been for many years an advocate for sport and physical well-being. He still has the opportunity to jog a few kilometres every day himself, being someone who was a noted Gaelic footballer way back in the early 1950s. He has been very consistent in his view on alcohol. Even he will accept that the introduction of regulations on advertising, marketing, separation within commercial outlets and the introduction of labelling will have an impact on general physical health and, as a consequence, mental well-being, and that access and affordability, as the Deputy well knows, are issues which impact on many young people. I accept the person involved has been a very strong advocate of better lifestyles and well-being and of people taking better care of themselves. The Bill will be very much be in line with this.

I ask the Deputy to read the report which is on the website. She will see the difficulty in trying to separate sponsorship from marketing and advertising. The Deputy is also aware that, as a country, we are limited in many ways on this issue because in many ways we cannot regulate multimedia outlets and particular products. The focus of Government is on separating out sponsorship, which has an inherent impact on advertising and marketing. It is coming after six years of discussion, during which no one wanted to do anything about this. Now it is being done and I hope it will have a very beneficial impact.

See this speech in context