Results 15,001-15,020 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Oct 2017)

Michael McDowell: Which is useless at its job.

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Oct 2017)

Michael McDowell: It spends €750 million a year and has 6,000 employees. It is useless.

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: I echo what Senator Coffey said. This is serious business. Nobody has a monopoly on zeal. Nobody in this House has a special pulpit to talk about the effects of alcohol on our society. We should consider this section and the amendment carefully. We are on Committee Stage. We are not in a position where we are simply making Second Stage speeches on the principle of the Bill or...

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: I will come back on the section. There was one thing I want to signal to the Minister. Subsection 10(7) says, "Where an alcohol product is supplied or offered for sale together with another product (other than an alcohol product) ... this section shall apply as if the alcohol product concerned is supplied or offered for sale on its own for that price." Many off-licences that I have dealt...

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: Nobody is saying any different.

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: I am grateful to the Minister for explaining how the pricing section will impact. At 10 cent per unit it is a minimal impact from what we can see. Would the Minister agree that there may be something to be said for having different classes of drink attract different minimum prices? A bottle of gin might be €20 and a can of Dutch Gold, €1.35.

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: There should not be a necessary connection between increasing the price of beer, which has one particular target market, and that of gin. For instance, if a unit price is increased to 15 cent the price of a bottle of gin would go up to €30, in order to make a can of Dutch Gold almost €2 a can. Is there something to be said, and maybe we can consider this on Report Stage, for...

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: He should allow himself the right to apply different rates to different classes of drink.

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: This is a Committee Stage debate. Members can speak as often as they like, subject to not being repetitious.

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: I accept that point.

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: I am a bit mystified by section 11(1)(b), which proposes to make it an offence for a person to "import, for sale in the State" an alcohol product if its container does not bear a warning in the prescribed form. How is that going to work out? I do not think it has been thought through. If it is an offence to bring into this State a product that does not bear this warning, people outside the...

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: I do not know whether every station carries it but if we look at the advertisement for Coors beer, which shows people tobogganing down the Rockies and all sorts of funny things happening, how does the Minister envisage what is proposed working? Will a voice be heard at the end of the advertisement saying-----

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: Sorry, I strayed into the next section.

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: The European Union would not agree with the Senator.

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: Arising out of Senator Swanick's point, he may be thinking of the Guinness Storehouse, which is one of Dublin's great tourist attractions. Closer to where I work, and I work in a distillery building, there is the Jameson distillery. No manufacturing is carried on there and I want to make that point clear. In so far as Guinness may have an extended campus, which includes its Storehouse, the...

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: It will not apply to Guinness but it will apply to Jameson.

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: Beamish is also from Cork.

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: One way around it is to sell alcohol wholesale on the premises.

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: If it is available wholesale there will be an exemption anyway under the section.

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: Yes. Two points struck me, one of which is related to the provision "a vehicle owned by a person who manufactures, or sells by wholesale, alcohol products". This will include travelling radio vans. I will give free advice to the whiskey people at a later stage. There are elaborate television advertisements. Will this apply to television? If so, and there is an advertisement for Coors...