Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat as ucht an deis labhairt ar an topaic seo. I support the objectives of this Bill. I am very aware of the culture and difficulties we have with alcohol. We are all very aware of them. It is condescending and downright disingenuous to assert that we are ignorant of that fact; we are not. What we are saying here, however, is that part of this Bill lacks common sense. Many of us here are from rural counties. We have stated quite clearly the serious impact that labelling will have on businesses and on our industry, including breweries, right across this country. The Minister is not taking that on board. If the label goes on, will it be extended to our food sector? Will it severely damage our agrifood sector, which is already under tremendous strain with the onset of Brexit? The proposal lacks common sense. It is not well thought out. Somebody thought it would be a good idea to include the labelling proposal.

It is very unfair to accuse us here of being detached or disconnected. We all have families with alcohol problems and family members who have had or have cancer. It is downright disingenuous to accuse us of being ignorant of that fact. We are very well aware it. We have been pragmatic and reasonable here, and we are just putting to the Minister the idea that cancer warnings on labels will not have an impact. We need to look to our education system and develop programmes through it. There should be more programmes run by the HSE. We need more of these if we are to tackle this issue.

Numerous studies have been conducted to ascertain links between alcohol and cancer. Like every single person here, I welcome that research. Despite numerous attempts to establish cause and correlation, in many cases there has been an absence of scientific evidence to substantiate the assertions. Alcohol abuse is a complex and social problem-----

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