Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I support Senator Quinn in his call for a debate on road safety. Much of what Senator MacSharry has said would reflect my views. Focusing on some aspects of Senator MacSharry's contribution, namely, the timeline in which many of these accidents take place and the age cohort involved, it has already been proven statistically that almost a third of accidents involve this younger age group. How can we continue to put forward proposals to try to reduce carnage when there is support and encouragement for what is an endemic drink culture, especially and sadly among the younger generation?

Is there any law preventing a large international multiple such as Tesco from indulging in an exploitative promotion such as that which occurred last week in advance of the national holiday? That supermarket chain offered ten free cans of beer for every ten cans purchased. This was an immoral decision taken by the corporate entity that is Tesco. I believe the decision was taken in the UK and that it was done on the basis of a British stereotype of how the Irish react on St. Patrick's weekend.

It was grossly immoral and I had many phone calls when wearing my other hat as a broadcaster of a programme in the north west. The calls came from people who were helpless, as they saw it, in the face of this type of corporate consumerism, which was at the bottom of the issue. It was about making money and it did not matter to the corporate directors of Tesco if young people would go out with 20 or 30 cans of beer as a result of this promotion and be killed the following day. There must be some law preventing this act of encouragement.