Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)

We are very much committed to a whole-of-government approach not only to public health but also to economic sustainability. The national alcohol labelling regulation, while rooted in public health objectives, must be implemented in a way that does not jeopardise Ireland's export-led recovery. Indeed, the alcohol beverage manufacturing sector employs more than 5,500 people and is a strategic contributor to our national economy. In one sense, we do not want to abandon the public health goal but we are asking for more pragmatic sequencing and economic realism in terms of its implementation. We will not apologise for standing up for Irish jobs and Irish businesses within this sector and ensuring that we maintain Ireland's global competitiveness. We need to ensure that this well-intentioned regulation does not become an ill-timed disruption to many of these exporters at a time of real uncertainty.

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