Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have not made up my mind about it yet. I always enjoyed a smoke even though it was not good for me, especially when I was driving on a long journey. Obviously, one could not have a drink on a long journey. That might upset the entire theory.

We must have balance. What if Ireland became a dry country? That happened in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s with Prohibition. The industry went underground. I hope we do not take that route as a consequence of what we want to do. There was an element of that in this country in the 1940s and 1950s when the homemade brew called poitín became an instant prop to society. It caused a great deal of trouble and many difficulties in homes. It caused friction and rows at parties and among groups throughout the country. The newspapers at the time were full of court reports and reports of what happened as a result of the indiscriminate use of that drink. Of course, "indiscriminate" is the operative word. There was nobody to control it. When it was available people drank it until it was gone. When it was gone there was a dry house until the next time it was available. In the United States the underground industry became huge, with massive consequences. When Prohibition was lifted, and this applies to other drugs as well, drink usage increased by 4,500%. It is a sobering thought - no pun intended. People tell us today with regard to other drugs that if the ban was lifted and all drugs were readily available, people would feel better as a result. That is not true. They also say that consumption would stabilise. That is not true either. The American experience after Prohibition was that the use of alcohol increased by 4,500%.

Other speakers have referred to the consequences of alcohol abuse for accident and emergency departments in our hospitals, particularly over weekends. I agree. It is the result of the abuse of a product. If we were educated properly, we should be able to recognise that it is not necessary to be tanked out of our minds and to fall over witless onto the pavement before we realise that we have had enough. There is an urgent necessity for that education. It must be done in the primary and secondary schools. As a result we might learn to moderate our consumption. There is a similarity with alternative energy and a reduction in our carbon footprint. Some people think that the only way to reduce our carbon footprint is to close down the smoking sectors - every car and truck in the country, the beef sector and everything in the country should be closed down. That will definitely reduce the footprint, but it will not necessarily improve people's quality of life. In fact, it will do the opposite and will do all sorts of peculiar things to the economy.

"Responsibility" is the word that comes to mind, that is, the recognition of the need to apply responsibility to the consumption of alcohol and the circumstances in which it is consumed.

We need to recognise and emphasise that the most dangerous misuse of alcohol occurs during private parties when groupings of people get together and, without logic, consume alcohol to excess and very often break down into argument, dispute and acrimony, which sometimes has tragic consequences. That must be addressed by educating people about alcohol.

As has been discussed many times in the House, publicans believe their biggest competitors are supermarkets, which sell alcohol massively below cost price in order to get a share of the market. There is no need for that to continue. While the Bill makes provision for restrictions on the packaging and display of alcohol, if alcohol continues to be available for purchase at far below cost price, we will not solve the problem. It will continue in private circumstances no matter what else we do.

I do not blame young people in regard to alcohol misuse because they do not have the experience to know what is likely to happen. They can say that people have been drinking for years and if alcohol was so harmful, such people would all be dead. However, that is not how one should look at it. What they and we must do is recognise that if everybody abuses alcohol, there will be sharp consequences for those concerned and we will not be able to reverse that at a later stage. Ultimately, people will end up in accident and emergency departments and possibly in long-stay accommodation in our hospitals as a result of the need to take action on alcohol misuse.

One could speak on this issue for a long time. Some people believe that pubs in rural Ireland have been ruined. There is no doubt that, for many reasons, it is difficult for pubs to exist in rural Ireland. One such reason is the issue of transport and drink-driving. As I have stated previously, it is possible to manage that by having nominated drivers and we must get used to that, although not everybody agrees with me in that regard. It is possible to have a level of community transport that will ensure that at a minimum, people have transport of a reliable nature in rural parts of the country that have no public transport, which is the issue. Nobody wants to face up to the fact that the footfall in rural Ireland has diminished. That is so for a variety of reasons, such as emigration from some parts of the country, people moving to towns and cities from others or both. That contributes to a decline in population and the diminution of the social life in those areas.

There are reasons for the Bill and it is up to each Member to recognise them. The Bill must and does recognise that groups such as Drinkaware have done a great deal of work to tackle alcohol misuse. They may have done so with the support of the alcohol industry but the industry itself recognises the need for moderation, education and responsible use. If the Bill is successful in achieving its objective, there will be recognition of responsible drinking, that we must have rules and that the abuse of drink and the wholesale abuse involved in alcohol being available at a low price to people of a vulnerable age will have all kinds of consequences, some immediate and some over the longer term.

See this speech in context