Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also thank Deputy Rice for bringing this forward. It is an opportunity to deal with the issue of advertising.

Over the years, if we go back long enough, within my lifetime, I can remember sports events being sponsored by alcohol, cigarettes and many things which have now become very much unacceptable. In Ireland, we have the particular issue of starting from a point where we have a very bad relationship with alcohol. We know the impact it has on families and individuals. We all talk now of the issues we have with cocaine but, unfortunately, we already had the foundations laid over a long period with the very bad relationship we have with alcohol.

Like Deputy Donnelly, I would like to see a scenario where we ensure we do not have bad faith actors who will advertise 0.0 from a point of view of ensuring they can up their sales of alcoholic drinks. It is making sure we have an absolute delineation of 0.0 offerings versus alcoholic offerings. I have seen a considerable amount of people drink 0.0. If we were all to state things clearly, there is an acceptance that frequently the reason 0.0 was created was so companies could get around advertising legislation. There is an absolute need for us to have whatever protections necessary in making sure it is very obvious that what is being advertised is something very different with the 0.0 offering.

I have a considerable number of friends, like Deputy Donnelly who spoke about this, who like the idea of being able to drink a 0.0 product. They do not have to go through the conversation I sometimes have of "Are you not having a drink?" or "Why are you not having a drink?" and then you go through this long piece. That is useful but, as I said, as regards the delineation, it has to be absolutely clearly stated. We have seen instances where companies have sponsored events and got around the advertising limits on alcohol by advertising a 0.0 offering that they did not even make. That is just absolutely wrong and absolutely ridiculous, and we need to make sure we have the facility to absolutely hammer them in those cases.

There is a need for a wider conversation about alcohol. From time to time, I think an awful lot of people get worried about the impact drugs have - whether we are talking about benzos, tablets of all forms, cocaine, crack cocaine or heroin - and the detrimental impact they have on whole communities. In most cases, when we talk about polydrug users, the big issue can be that one of those drugs is alcohol. We need to make sure we have the full wherewithal, as regards those who are young and impressionable and open to what is some of the best advertising money can buy, to ensure that there are limits and that it is absolutely clear when something is advertised that it is non-alcoholic. Then we have to have an ever greater level of protections in relation to advertising that would be open to younger minds. We have all seen the ads. Generally, it will be very healthy-looking people, in some cases very famous people, having a great time, but we all know what the idea is.

We would like to work alongside Deputy Rice on putting together legislation that can actually have an impact, and that is from a point of view that we do not allow these companies to curtail the existing laws on the advertising of alcohol. Then, as I said, we have to have a wider conversation about actually tackling the endemic levels of alcoholism and the misuse and abuse of alcohol. Many of us in younger years and at different times probably did abuse alcohol. On some level it can almost be, "Ah, sure, he is only young", or "It is only this, that and the other". There is an element of forgiveness sometimes, a forgiveness that does not exist when we see somebody abusing drugs. I agree with Deputy Cummins when she speaks about the fact that in an awful lot of cases, the gateway drug for many is alcohol. We know the damage it does. We need to work on legislation that we can get across the line such that we make sure that we have a delineation and that those who see this advertising can notice the difference and the acceptance that we have a huge issue with alcohol. Not only do I have worries about the national drugs strategy and where it is going and the fact that we have seen a hollowing out of the community element of that, but we also need to see a fully fledged strategy on dealing with alcohol.

I commend Deputy Rice on bringing this forward. Hopefully, as I said, we can work alongside him on getting a Bill that will be able to deal with some of the issues in relation to other products and the misadvertising we have seen.

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