Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. I acknowledge the huge work done on the Bill by Deputy Corcoran Kennedy. It is unfortunate that she was not allowed to complete the job, for whatever reason. The Bill is hugely important. Deputies Chambers and Corcoran Kennedy have given statistics on the impact of alcohol on our daily lives. To those who compared alcohol to burnt toast - it was not just toast but burnt toast - I encourage them to go to an accident and emergency department on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night and see the real impact of alcohol. Gardaí, nurses and emergency personnel have been assaulted while doing their jobs by people with too much alcohol on board. People cannot take too much burnt toast but they can take an awful lot of alcohol and do a huge amount of damage to themselves, their families and their communities.

Deputy Corcoran Kennedy was right, and I also want to acknowledge the huge courage shown during the passage of this legislation by John and Anne Higgins from my home town of Ballina, who lost their son in 2011.

Since then they have dedicated their lives to highlighting the impact of alcohol on people's lives and families. They have shown huge courage. Over that time they have been enormously frustrated and brokenhearted. I refer not just to the loss of their son but at the slow pace of this legislation and that as a country we cannot seem to comprehend we have a bad relationship with alcohol. It is important that we pass this Bill quickly but also that we enforce it as well. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland every month publishes a list of places that have been closed down. I notice in the last number of months its public relations material has gotten much more graphic with pictures of rodents.

That is what we need here. Every month supermarkets not complying with the law on minimum pricing need to be named and shamed. Any group that refuses to comply with this Bill needs to be named and shamed every month. The alcohol industry, as Deputy Chambers has said, is conscious of its reputation and image. Let us start chipping away at that image and use this Bill to chip away at the notion that alcohol is a product. The concerns about advertising are completely misplaced. Advertising alcohol is there to make it look cool and as something needed in life. It is not being advertised at 5 p.m. because of a cheap slot. It is because younger people are watching television at that time.

It is so sophisticated that, as Deputy Chambers said, within minutes of any major occurrence the alcohol industry tags advertisements on social media, television and other forms of media to try to link any kind of achievement to alcohol. I refer to needing a drink or alcohol to celebrate a communion, a confirmation or Johnny Sexton winning a rugby match. I saw it in my own county last September when we qualified for the All-Ireland again. I want to come back to the whole area of supermarkets. However, I refer to multiple supermarkets putting on incentives and offers around the weekend of an All-Ireland to encourage people to buy more drink. It worked. That kind of thing has to stop.

The big multiple supermarkets that do not give two damns about people need to be tackled even harder than is laid out in this legislation. I refer to selling slabs of beer as well as bringing in minimum unit pricing. Does anyone need a slab of beer? We need to look at controlling further the volumes that can be sold as well as the cost. We need further controls on the promotion of alcohol within these major multiples as well. They are the factor driving people to drink at home. People are leaving the controlled atmosphere of the local pub and drinking at home. There is no control and no concept of that. Alcohol is seen now as a daily product as opposed to a drug, as Deputy Chambers said.

The legislation also needs to be practical. There are areas around labelling that need to be defined and dealt with. It would be ridiculous if all this effort and goodwill that is there for this legislation was to be wasted in a challenge to the legislation from one of these industries because of some weakness within the legislation. We have to look at specific areas as well. Nobody goes into a craft brewery or distillery to bulk buy alcohol. They go in because they have an appreciation and understanding of the damage alcohol will do to them. We need to ensure we do not crucify them with the same kind of regulations that are needed in multiple supermarkets and drink sellers.

There needs to be caution in terms of the impact labelling may have on small operators in this sector. I welcome the changes made in the Seanad in respect of the display of alcohol within supermarkets. However, they need to be enforced. That enforcement should be a job given to the local authority because the Department of Health does not have the resources to do that. If this legislation is to be successful, it must be enforced. We need to be imaginative in using every avenue of State, the Department of Health, local authorities and the Revenue Commissioners to ensure this legislation hits home and has the success we need it to have.

It is unfortunate the debate on this became obsessed today with a call to close the Dáil bar. That does not do this House, the debate and the seriousness required around it any service. We have a serious problem as a nation. We woke up in respect of smoking. We need to wake up in regard to alcohol. For those very highly paid people living around here for a while, and for those highly paid company executives who compare alcohol to toast, I finish as I started. Come with me any weekend and visit families that have lost a loved one to alcohol or an illness as a consequence of alcohol. Go and meet a nurse, a garda, an ambulance driver or a paramedic. Talk to a security officer who has been beaten up while doing his or her job because of alcohol. Do not immediately link it into sport or family celebration. Talk to the people for whom alcohol abuse and this country's warped relationship with alcohol is impacting upon on a daily, weekly and often nightly basis.

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