Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support the spirit of what Deputy O'Reilly is trying to do. I have discussed it with the Minister in some detail and it has been explained to me that for a bunch of what sound like reasonable and material legal reasons it cannot be done in this way. However, the point raised is incredibly important because one of the things that this Bill does is to try to prevent advertising of alcohol in areas such as sport, particularly with children. As we know, advertising is moving online and my understanding is that more than 50% of advertising revenue spent in Ireland today is spent online and, therefore, we are going to great efforts to make a difference in terms of billboard advertising near schools and so forth but to miss online advertising is a real problem. I understand that it could not be brought through this Bill because it requires changes to European legislation and so forth. While we will not support the amendment as it is, I wholeheartedly agree with the point that Deputy O'Reilly raised, namely, that whatever prohibitions and protections we are bringing in, particularly for young people and children, we must figure out how to bring that into the online space as well as a matter of urgency.

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