Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is clear not only in its Title but, equally, in the shared intent of its promoters in both Houses of this Parliament, what exactly the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015 is about. The Bill is about public health first and last. There is no other agenda. That its passage into law will have an impact across our communities is not disputed. This will be in evidence in all non-off-licence settings. My hope and indeed my expectation is that the impact will not be as severe for individual businesses as has been either feared or forecast. Once it is done, it is done. That is important. Whether we are retailers or consumers, we will find the new reality strange and challenging at first. As with other significant societal measures in the past, we will adapt. Whether one is a retailer or a consumer, there is a shared responsibility to contribute positively to and accept our role in any measure that can help reduce the simply dreadful impact that alcohol abuse has on the lives of so many with alcohol addiction, their families, their friends, their communities and on Irish society more broadly. We must face up to the facts and our shared duty to accept these statistics and the terrible realities that those statistics represent in the lives of so many, including people and families that we all know. Just as worrying are the effects on those we do not know because the hurt and pain is often hidden from everyone's view.

The following fact has already been recorded in the course of this Second Stage debate. Each day in Ireland, we are reliably informed, three people die in circumstances directly related to alcohol misuse. The passage of this Bill will not be a panacea for this frightening fact. People are still going to die and lives will still be blighted. We have a duty, however, to take a conscious stand and to do anything and everything we can to help address the carnage of lives lost to alcohol and the ruin of innocent lives, often as those affected suffer in silence. At a time when our hospitals are at breaking point, our accident and emergency units are filled to capacity and more every weekend with people suffering from the effects of alcohol. It is incomprehensible to me and to most people, I think, that there are voices among us that, for some reason, choose to ignore what our hospital staff, doctors, nurses, care attendants and others face week after week, not to mention the frightening impact this has on other patients of all ages, including children. These issues have been raised with me on many occasions over my years in public life, not only during my time as a spokesperson on health.

The warnings that will now be placed on alcohol products are welcome. They have their own difficulties and will, of course, have an impact in lots of ways. Nevertheless, they are welcome. Just because they are not already in use in other jurisdictions does not mean we cannot take the lead. Restrictions on the placing of advertisements and the times at which they can be broadcast are welcome. They are very important measures. Notwithstanding all of the many specific provisions the Bill entails, the main positive the public will take from it is that people will at last realise that alcohol is a product of choice. Up to this point, marketing gurus in the major drinks companies may as well have been opening a drink in front of us and pouring it down our throats. There was no getting away from it. That is the current situation. The Bill will certainly make alcohol a product of conscious purchasing choice, which I welcome. I look forward to a point in the future when we will be able to look back on the passage of this Bill and say it was worth it. If the health of our nation is significantly improved and our relationship with alcohol becomes mature and much more respectful, it surely will have been worth it. Only time will tell.

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