Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have an opportunity to speak on this important Bill. When this Bill started off, people were looking to curtail binge drinking and provide for minimum unit pricing. Those were the objectives, but the Bill has strayed now. To be honest, it has gone haywire. The notion of introducing a cancer warning label that would cover one third of the packaging of alcohol products was added to the legislation before Christmas. I have nothing personal against the Minister of State - I have nothing at all to say to her - but I wonder whether those who make such proposals really know what they are talking about. Small distilleries and little brewing companies around the country are employing people. They are giving good employment and competing on the world market with Scotch whisky and other different whiskeys from around the world that do not need to have these cancer labels. I am pro-jobs. I do not intend to support this Bill because it will hurt people who are employed in parts of County Kerry like Killarney and Dingle, where they are doing great work. I believe these measures will do more harm than good. No other country in the world has introduced mandatory cancer warnings on alcohol products. We really needed to see if we could reduce binge drinking and reduce the minimum pricing.

However, this is not being done. If we go back 20 or 25 years, young fellows used to go to a bar with older brothers, parents or uncles and were trained how to drink two or maybe three pints. They enjoyed the banter and communication with people from the parish or locality. This no longer happens because young people now drink on one or possibly two nights at the weekend. It was different in the past because the same closing time applied to all licensed premises. Nowadays, later closing times apply to a small number of venues in cities and large towns where youngsters and inclined to go for a late drink. They are not among their own, however, and meet many different people who they do not know. They are losing out because going out is now an anonymous activity, whereas in the past people went out for the banter and to talk about football or what was going on in the locality or on the local farms. I do not know how we can get back to that but if we were try to do so, we might achieve something.

The Bill is being proposed when the Irish beer and whiskey sectors are experiencing a period of promising growth. They stuck with it for the past eight or nine years and survived. Now that they are coming out the other end, they are about to be blown out of existence by the proposed cancer warnings on alcohol product labels. We have a great distillery in Dingle and the Killarney Brewing Company on the Muckross Road. The brewery's visitor centre attracts tourists every day during the summer and is an attraction for the town. This Bill will hurt companies such as this. How can producers compete with producers from countries such as Scotland where cancer warnings are not required on labels for Scotch whisky? A requirement to place cancer warnings on alcohol product labels will have a damaging impact on small distilleries and breweries that are bringing new products to the market. The notion that producers should be required to produce a label for the Irish market only will create additional costs for them, particularly small craft brewers and whiskey distillers. If they are in a position to export, they will have to produce one label for Ireland and another for the rest of the world. Redesigning labels has associated costs which will add yet more to the costs incurred by small drinks companies that support and create local jobs.

We must remember that Friday evening does not take long coming for people who have staff to pay. I know what it is like to be an employer because I have been employing people for years. Friday evening comes very fast.

Will the cancer warning labels work? It is worth considering whether the introduction of such labels will solve our problems with harmful and underage drinking. We must also balance this with the harm they will do to the industry. I do not believe they will have any effect on young people because they will soon find out that the product is the same as it was before the label was placed on it. The measure will hurt exporters, however.

Focusing on only one health issue is confusing for consumers. I suggest the Department of Health roll out an education campaign informing people of the recommended drinking guidelines, rather than placing cancer warnings on bottles because the measure is unlikely to work.

If we removed alcohol completely, people would turn to something else. They are already turning to drugs. I wonder if cancer labels are put on drugs in the places they come from.

The Bill will introduce new rules on alcohol advertisements, including where they can be shown, which is a ridiculous provision. If people know a bottle of whiskey or wine is behind a curtain in a shop, it will not make a difference but it will harm small shops because they will have to implement the measure in the small space available to them.

The proposed measures will prevent alcohol companies from including a storyline in advertisements. This is too strict and will negatively impact the drinks industry. It means small producers will not be able to gain market share or grow to a sufficient size to export their products. The advertising restrictions will also make it more difficult for new entrants to bring products to the Irish market. Evidence shows that these restrictions will cost Irish media €20 million per annum in lost revenue.

I feel for the businesses that are providing jobs. Visitor centres attached to whiskey distilleries are an attraction. I am particularly concerned that the Bill spells trouble for Irish whiskey tourism. The new measures will impact on advertisements for whiskey distillery visitor centres that contain the name of the brand. Visitor centre advertisements will not be allowed to contain images of people or use storylines. Advertisements will be prohibited from train stations and bus stops and from within 200 m of schools and crèches. I ask the Minister to give special consideration to the impact of the Bill on visitor centres. I am worried about businesses that are trying to get off the ground and those that have stuck it our for the past eight or nine years and are trying to provide jobs.

The Bill has strayed from its original purpose. It has gone off the rails altogether and is losing support for that reason. We all want to tackle the problems of harmful and underage drinking but extreme legislation is not always good legislation. I ask the Minister to consider the points I have raised and identify what small changes could be made to the Bill to address these concerns. Nobody is interested in scuppering the legislation. The issue is one of making sensible changes that will create balance. For this reason, I ask the Minister to revisit the Bill. If the Government were to stick to the original intention of introducing minimum pricing and if it tried to address the issue of teenagers being lured into a small number of large, open venues, we would achieve a better outcome.

See this speech in context