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

There are 6,450 people employed in the drinks and hospitality trade in County Kerry, which represents 10.5% of the total number of people employed. No other county in Ireland has a higher percentage of people employed in the drinks and hospitality sector. The drinks industry is the lifeblood of many communities. Elected representatives must do everything they can to protect those jobs and that is what we are attempting to do and will continue to try to do. We are elected to make sure the Government is aware that what it is doing is wrong. There is no necessity in the world for this measure.

We all want to tackle the problem of harmful and underage drinking, which was the purpose of the Bill when introduced a number of years ago but it has now deviated from that objective in terms of the labelling provisions and what is proposed for supermarkets and so on. No other country in the world has mandatory cancer warnings on alcohol products. This measure applies a stigma to products made in Ireland and damages our reputation as a country that produces recognised quality products of international standing. The reputational damage to this category could be huge in Ireland and in export markets, undoing all the hard work of recent years. Several foods such as red meat, sausages, bacon and ham have been classified as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. If Ireland requires the inclusion of cancer warnings on alcohol it is likely that similar requirements will be introduced for foods, which is of serious concern to Irish food processors. It is about everything in moderation. Alcohol in moderation does no harm to anybody. Will this measure stop people who drink excessively? It will not. It is a gimmick on the part of the Minister for Health and the Government to make people think they are doing something about excessive drinking. This measure will not stop underage or excessive drinking, which is what we started out to do, but we have now moved away from that.

People have drunk alcohol for years and drinking plays an important role in sustaining socially supportive friendship networks, improving happiness and combating loneliness and isolation. Maybe people living in or near cities do not know about loneliness and isolation but in rural areas people have little else to do but have a few drinks for company's sake. That is as it ever was. It is ridiculous what the Government is doing because Scotch whisky and whiskey from other parts of the world will not have the cancer warning.

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