John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Chair for the opportunity to raise an extremely important health issue. When I discovered last week that the alcohol products (control of advertising, sponsorship and marketing practices/sales promotions) Bill had disappeared from the list of promised legislation, I raised the issue with the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, neither of whom were concerned in the slightest that a major legislative plank of this country's attempts to deal with alcohol abuse had been abandoned.

It is strange that they could not have cared less — the same is true of large sections of the media and the main Opposition parties — given the extent of the well-documented problems associated with alcohol. In his indifferent response, the Taoiseach said that self-regulation often works best. The Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Seán Power, recently said on RTE that he is convinced the alcohol industry will act responsibly. If the vintners had been allowed to introduce the smoking ban in pubs on the basis of self-regulation, it would never have happened.

The Government response is shameful and deeply corrupt. It has bowed to an industry which produces the most harmful drug, albeit a legal one, in Irish society. It is a drug responsible for violence and disorder, serious health problems, marriage breakdown, suicide and depression, absenteeism and major problems in our accident and emergency units. It costs the State millions of euro every year. Yet, the Government has decided to play ball with the producers of this drug. It is nauseating to watch Ministers make sanctimonious statements about drugs like hashish and cocaine, and get cheap publicity for doing so, while at the same time ignoring the main problem. They ignore their own reports, the Strategic Task Force on Alcohol's recommendations and the statements from the previous Minister for Health and Children, who proposed introducing this legislation in 2003. All these recommendations are to be ignored at the behest of the alcohol industry, which the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and the Minister of State, Deputy Sean Power, tell us will act responsibly.

What does "acting responsibly" mean? It means showing advertisements and encouraging people to drink while at the same time displaying a small piece of advice to "enjoy alcohol responsibly". We cannot afford to be naive about this. The aim of the alcohol industry is to increase profits and to sell as much alcohol as possible. How is this aim compatible with the aims of the Government, which ought to be concerned first and foremost with the public good and protecting society and public health? However, as we have seen time and again with the Fianna Fáil-PD Administration, profits come before people. This latest U-turn is symptomatic of just how deep the Government has sunk into the corporate mire. No doubt Fianna Fáil and the PDs will benefit handsomely from the drinks industry for the way in which they have kowtowed to these vested interests.

It all comes at the cost of society. The alcohol products (control of advertising, sponsorship and marketing practices/sales promotions) Bill was supposed to "protect children and adolescents from over-exposure to alcohol advertising". The new laws were supposed to limit where alcohol advertisements could be placed and introduce a watershed for children on radio, television and cinema. The contents of advertisements were not to appeal to children in any way and there was to be a ban on sponsorship of activities involving young people. The members of the Joint Committee on Health and Children went much further. We said there should be a complete ban on alcohol advertisements, having heard all of the conclusive evidence. We considered the problem of alcohol in some detail and felt we were left with no alternative.

The dropping of this legislation raises a fundamental question about the relevance of Parliament. If expert opinions and reports from a joint committee are to be totally ignored by the Government, why are we here? Who calls the shots? Who has the power? Is it the elected representatives or the powerful lobbyists on behalf of vested interests? Surely this is yet another example of why we need to know who is lobbying on behalf of whom, to whom they have spoken and the content of those negotiations. We need a register of lobbyists.

The alcohol industry can claim a major victory. The loser is society and this Parliament. This is a sick and corrupt Government. The Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, and her party, the Progressive Democrats, should hang their heads in shame.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The only person who should hang his head in shame is the Deputy for making such a contribution and abusing the position he is afforded in the House. However, it is welcome that the Deputy has raised the matter as it provides me with an opportunity to deal with the inaccuracies and nonsense spoken in recent days.

The Department of Health and Children and the strategic task force on alcohol had concerns about alcohol advertisements, particularly in regard to content, placement and marketing practices. One of the recommendations of the task force was to reduce the exposure of young people to alcohol advertisements. The Department drafted the heads of a Bill to restrict, not ban, alcohol advertising. The heads were subsequently approved by Government. In parallel with this process, the Department approached representatives from the relevant industries — not the other way around. The representatives from the advertising, drinks, communications and media sectors were informed of the Department's concerns and that legislation was being drafted. The industry acknowledged the concerns and asked for time to respond on an incremental basis.

The first response was to establish Central Copy Clearance Ireland, CCCI. The function of this body is to vet the content of alcohol advertisements to ensure adherence to the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland, ASAI, codes and the 1995 ministerial broadcast media code. Agreement has been reached with all media — television, radio, cinema etc. — that all alcohol advertisements must carry a CCCI stamp approval number before they will accept it for broadcast or display. The CCCl system has been in place since mid-2003 and has had a significant impact on the number of complaints upheld by the ASAI.

In response to the Department's concerns about placement, the industry proposes to introduce a system of audience profiling. It has been agreed that no advertising for alcohol will be booked by the drinks industry or placed by the broadcasters in any programming where more than 33% of the audience is under the age of 18 years. In addition, no advertising for alcohol will be placed in any programming specifically aimed at children or young people. This applies to television, radio and cinema. Some of the agreements reached in regard to outdoor advertising include a restriction that alcohol advertising will not be placed within 100 metres of schools and buses, and bus shelters will not contain wraparound alcohol advertisements.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Big deal.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

An independently chaired monitoring body to oversee the code is currently being established. The Department is satisfied that the code will result in a significant reduction in the exposure of young people to alcohol advertisements, which is the aim of the recommendation of the task force. Consequently, it has been decided to delay the introduction of the Bill pending the outcome of the implementation of the voluntary code. If the monitoring body reports that the code is not effective, the Department retains the option of reactivating the Bill. If the code is not honoured, we will introduce the legislation.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

What is the timescale? How long will it be?

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The drinks industry, with the advertising industry, acted responsibly in this process. It is better to have them on board. It is part of the problem and it is also part of the solution.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It is part of the problem.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

If we were to adopt the Deputy's attitude, we would never have had a ceasefire in Northern Ireland or achieved the——

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

For God's sake. The Minister should not compare the two cases.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Deputy should let me finish. He has spoken enough nonsense.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It is not just my opinion; it is the opinion of the Joint Committee on Health and Children.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Deputy referred to the drinks industry dictating policy here. Nothing could be further from the truth. He pointed to the smoking ban. The biggest lobby here tried to prevent the introduction of the smoking ban, namely, the drinks industry.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It was just a voluntary code.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

We stood up to the drinks industry and showed it that public health was our priority.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Voluntary codes do not work.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

We were quite happy to take a different line to the industry. On this occasion, we are happy to have the industry on board and to have agreed the voluntary code. However, it has not dictated the voluntary code. It is an agreement we have reached. If it does not work, we will introduce legislation. We have an independent monitoring body which will report to us on a regular basis. It if feels it is not acting——

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

How long will that be?

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

We will have reports from the body within a year. It will be obvious to all if the code is not working. I spoke to Dr. Joe Barry recently.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

He agrees with me.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Very few people agree with the Deputy. What we are doing by voluntary code will have the same result as if we introduced the legislation. We aim to reduce the exposure of young people to alcohol advertising and what we are putting in place will achieve this.

With regard to the introduction of a complete ban on alcohol advertising, it is totally impossible at this stage given the position of television advertising. We have no control over a number of television stations and we do not have the consensus in Europe that was evident in regard to tobacco advertising.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

That is why the joint committee advised it should be brought in at EU level.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

To talk in terms of introducing such a measure at present is ridiculous. It should be stressed that while restricting or banning alcohol advertising would have some effect in reducing alcohol abuse, the international evidence suggests this should not be a lead strategy.

I am confident implementation of the recommendations of the strategic task force on alcohol will result in a reduction in alcohol abuse and it is intended to proceed with the implementation of same.