David Norris (Independent)

I have been raising this issue in the Seanad for the last six years. At first, I was laughed out of court by people who regarded the massive increase in alcohol consumption and the deterioration in public behaviour and health standards as a source of amusement. I remember talking about the filth in the centre of our capital city as a result of people urinating, defecating and vomiting everywhere. Laughter was heard from the other side of the House with the quite witty remark, "urination once again." I hope we have got beyond this and no longer regard it as a laugh. It is an exceptionally serious health, economic and social problem and I am glad Seanad Éireann has at last woken up to this fact. However, it is quite amusing to find myself in danger of being trampled to death by the rush of people jumping on board on this issue. Thank God for it. I hope we will stand together and do something. Before the last general election the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, a decent man, said market forces versus public health issues must be controlled once and for all. Let us do it. Let us stop talking about it and put teeth into the legislation. It can be done in this House.

There is not merely anecdotal material on this problem. The strategic task force on alcohol has reported that in the last six years there has been a 50% increase in the consumption of spirits. Ireland has moved from 12th to second place in the world rankings of alcohol consumption and by next year we will probably be in first place. That is an extraordinary change in the statistics. Cannabis is a far less dangerous drug than alcohol, yet it is illegal. A total of 53% of young people have tried an illegal drug. A total of 32% per cent of 15 to 16 year olds have used cannabis while 22% have used solvents, but 89% have tried alcohol. That is worrying.

People are afraid to walk the streets of cities and towns after the early evening because they are in danger of unprovoked assault. Several citizens of the State, especially young men, have been killed as a result of our inaction in the Oireachtas. It is many years since I first raised this problem in the Seanad. I predicted that if nothing was done, deaths would be the result. Sadly, my words were only too true. I was the victim of an unprovoked drunken assault outside my house some years ago and received five stitches in my face. On another occasion I went to the rescue of a man who was being kicked to death by his drunken companions. I could hear, in my bedroom, the thuds of their boots against his head. The Garda took a long time to arrive and I was reprimanded for going out with my shillelagh to protect myself.

We need to wake up to this problem. One of the features of the current situation is the involvement of young women. I am middle aged, but in my day young women did not go out to get drunk. They rarely went into pubs. Now they go out specifically to get drunk. The drinks companies know this and target their products at them. There is no avoiding this fact. I had to laugh, when I saw a recording of the "Prime Time" programme, at the shamefaced attitude of everybody representing the drinks industry. They have much of which to be ashamed. Anybody who can read body language could see it. Some of the people concerned were my friends and I almost felt sorry for them. They were craven in response to the questions directed to them.

Think of the tragic case of a young French woman, married to a Cork man, who was attacked in Cork by a couple of drunken trollops. She was beaten so severely that she is in constant pain and unable to bear children. The perpetrators got three years in jail, but the woman concerned and her husband have been given a life sentence. This is an increasingly common phenomenon.