Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak, in the few minutes I have left, on this long-awaited legislation. It is the first time alcohol has been dealt with by the Department of Health as public health policy rather than by the Department of Justice and Equality. This demonstrates how central the Bill is to the Healthy Ireland agenda being pursued by the Government, which some people in this House do not seem to understand.

Previous generations understood clearly that alcohol is not an ordinary, everyday commodity like eggs, milk or bread. Medical evidence tells us that it causes cancer just like tobacco and is a psychoactive drug. Alcohol is the biggest drug problem we have in our country. People die every day because of alcohol consumption. Governments the world over recognise that alcohol is not an ordinary product and, as with tobacco, have in each generation attempted to minimise alcohol harm to children, youths and adults in different ways. Governments know that getting their people to reduce alcohol consumption without being prohibitionist about it will improve each person's quality of life. They will have better mental health and physical health; they will manage their weight more easily; they will reduce their risks of alcohol-related liver disease and failure as well as various cancers; there will be reductions in domestic violence, physical assaults, including sexual assaults, and the number of children in care; and there will be less pressure on our emergency services. All this can be expected and should be welcomed by everyone.

Why all the fuss from industry about the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill? The answer is easy: it is all about profit. The global drinks industry wants us all to keep drinking alcohol, just like the tobacco companies want us to keep smoking. The alcohol companies and supermarket chains want our children to be introduced to alcohol as an ordinary product from the time they accompany their parents to buy food or fuel. There it is sitting beside the bread, the milk and the frozen food, usually at heavily discounted prices, so should this be a surprise to any of us? I do not think so. Like any business, profit is the drinks industry's aim. It will do all it can to protect and increase its profits, as is to be expected, including attempting to influence our laws by lobbying all public representatives from the Taoiseach's office to our local councillors. The Standards in Public Office Commission quarterly published register of lobbyists proves this point. The drinks industry will argue it is only doing its job, and one would have to agree. The job of Government and the role of Ministers, Deputies, Senators and councillors should be protecting the common good, and a duty of care for our people. The common good should always trump vested interests. Recognising that a product can cause well-documented harm to our people and our society means that public representatives have a responsibility to inform our people and to encourage behavioural change.

A consistent message from those representing the alcohol industry is that they were not consulted on this legislation. The facts do not bear this out. The genesis of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill is to be found in Steering Group Report on a National Substance Misuse Strategy, published in 2012. The alcohol industry was represented on this group by the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland and Mature Enjoyment of Alcohol in Society. Based on this report, in October 2013 the Government approved a comprehensive suite of measures to reduce excessive patterns of alcohol consumption. The Bill also has support from the public. A Health Research Board report, entitled Alcohol: Public Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviours, noted that three quarters of the people surveyed believe the Government has a responsibility to implement public health measures to address high alcohol consumption. Pre-legislative scrutiny by the Joint Committee on Health and Children followed the publication of the heads of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015 and brought extensive engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. Again, the alcohol industry and its representatives had their opportunity to be heard both in person and by making written submissions. Subsequently, the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill was introduced to Seanad Éireann in December 2015 by the then Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar. A commitment to the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill is included in the programme for Government negotiated with the Independent Alliance and which forms the basis of the confidence-and-supply agreement with Fianna Fáil. Enacting the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill is Government policy.

The resistance that emerged in the Seanad, when I reintroduced the Bill in October 2016, was unexpected as the transcripts from December 2015 gave no indication that a furore would erupt. The effect of the lobbying on the part of the drinks industry and supermarket chains in the intervening year was clear to be seen. Most of the arguments made against the Bill were the same ones I had already heard from the industry when its representatives met me. Many members of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland in Offaly and nationally as well as the National Off-Licence Association, NOffLA, fully support the Bill but they did not seem to get much of a hearing in the debate. Many of those who argued in favour of the Bill were drowned out by the frenzy to sneer at simple, low-cost suggestions for retailers to screen alcohol from view. This measure is simply to convey the message, most especially to our children and young people, that alcohol is no ordinary product.

Those coping with alcohol addiction and recovering alcoholics would also benefit from the Bill, but not much attention was paid to this fact either. The noise created a perfect distraction from the fact that almost 1,100 people die every day because of their consumption of alcohol. This figure equals the entire population of many villages in rural Ireland. There has been much larger public outcry for a lot less in recent years.

The tactics of the alcohol industry to thwart and delay this legislation are exactly those that the tobacco industry has used the world over. It is no surprise, then, that the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland flat-out denied that alcohol causes cancer, despite the fact that the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization has classified alcohol as a group 1 carcinogen, similar to tobacco, arsenic and asbestos. It is no surprise that the industry is trying to cause confusion and doubt over the fact that alcohol is a carcinogen, or that the alcohol industry has fought Scotland through the courts and delayed its intention to introduce minimum unit pricing for five years. It is no surprise that it is fighting the labelling provisions, because then the consumer would be empowered by knowing about the alcohol content, the calorie content and the nutritional breakdown and by the health warnings, and it is no surprise that it rejects the provisions to control alcohol marketing, because our children and young people are alcohol drinkers of the future. It is also no surprise that it rejects efforts to control sports sponsorship intended to protect children and young people. These are the very same tactics used by the tobacco industry in the past.

Of course, public health is not the responsibility of the drinks industry, but the facts cannot be avoided. Alcohol is a factor in half of all suicides and one in three self-harm cases. The rate of alcohol-related liver disease trebled between 1995 and 2013. One in ten breast cancers is caused by alcohol. A total of 167,170 people have suffered an alcohol-related assault. One in four deaths of young men is alcohol-related, which is twice as many deaths as those due to all other drugs combined. Alcohol is a factor in a third of all drownings. One in four people attending accident and emergency departments have alcohol-related injuries. Half of these are people aged under 30. One in four traumatic brain injuries is alcohol-related. Two in five road deaths are caused by excessive drinking. There is mounting international evidence of foetal alcohol disorders in children whose mothers drank during pregnancy. Alcohol-related dementia is on the rise.

I had the privilege of launching the HSE's Ask About Alcohol website last year. It is a trusted educational resource for anyone who wants to learn about the effects of alcohol consumption or who feels he or she might be having a little too much to drink a little too often. I pay tribute to those who have campaigned tirelessly with little funding, especially the Alcohol Health Alliance. I also acknowledge the parents of young people who died by suicide as a result of alcohol, in particular John Higgins. Professor Frank Murray, one of our leading liver specialists, has played an important part in their campaign to bring hard evidence informed by his own work experience to the debate. I commend the Minister, Deputy Harris, the chief medical officer, Tony Holohan, and their team on the fantastic work they have done on the Bill to date. We must get the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015 enacted without delay because it will save lives. I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for his indulgence.

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