Phil Prendergast (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Pat Carey, to the House. I thank Senator Hannigan for sharing his time with me.

Irish drinking habits have changed over recent times. People have become more likely to drink at home than in the pub. That shift has been caused by the significant increase in the availability of alcohol in many outlets, including supermarkets. It is not healthy that such outlets sell alcohol at cheap prices, often below cost. We do not send the right message to young people when we tell them they can get three cans for the price of one, or buy 12 cans and get 12 cans free. I agree with the recent comments of Mr. Padraig Cribben, the chief executive officer designate of the Vintners Federation of Ireland, who said that a great deal of alcohol is now being consumed outside controlled areas such as pubs. The one thing to be said about a pub, I suppose, is one can only drink so much and one will fall down. The amount of alcohol, like other drugs, one can take before one exceeds the stated safe amount varies from person to person. It depends on one's tolerance of the build-up of alcohol.

Drinks consumed at home are generally not measured, which is dangerous. It is very easy to erode safe standards. I refer to the accepted measures which would be safe, such as 14 units a week for a woman and 21 units for a man. The stated units are not necessarily safe. I do not know how the standard was arrived at, but it could also do with a review. One small glass of wine or half a glass of beer represents one unit. We could do with restating safe levels and deciding who measures such things. There is also a problem with supermarkets using alcohol products as loss leaders.

I welcome the designated driver initiative by Coca-Cola. There should be more such initiatives. It is terrible to sit in a pub and drink water all night — as I have done often enough, although I cannot say I do it regularly — while being charged exorbitant prices for doing so. I do not think this is right. From the point of view of value for money, people may conclude that they might as well have the buzz from alcohol and take their chances. I must point out that I am not advocating this, lest I be misrepresented in my remarks.

The issue of drug use has been well covered this evening. It is now so serious that we must tackle the causes. It is difficult to assess whether someone is driving under the influence of drugs because there is no means of testing for this. If we could introduce something similar to breath testing it would be helpful. There are prescribed drugs which may impair driving or interact with and potentiate the action of other prescribed drugs. We need to be careful because there may be genuine cases in which people take drugs prescribed by their doctor which impair their abilities in some way. This could happen with painkillers or over-the-counter flu remedies. For this reason, tackling the problem will be difficult. I do not know whether there is an easy answer but I am sure, in view of the number of innovative people available, there is some means of assessing whether someone is under the influence of drugs and determining whether the drug is controlled or prescribed or being misused for some purpose.

There are problems with the importation of large amounts of drugs, the recent tragic deaths associated with drugs and under-reporting of drug related deaths. When a person dies of cardiac arrest due to drug taking, the association may not be noted. The answer may be to conduct toxicology screening on everyone who is admitted to hospital or dies suddenly, perhaps of sudden adult death syndrome, although I am not implying in any way that this is associated with drug taking. This is an area that must be dealt with sensitively.

Gangland killings are also associated with drugs. A total of 92% of venues tested in a recent survey were found to show evidence of cocaine use, but that could mean that 92 people in each of these 92 venues were taking drugs, although I am being facetious. The daily reports of drug seizures show the level of drug use. I give credit to the authorities for their success in tackling the drugs crisis. How do we measure success? Do we measure it based on the number of people arrested or jailed for drugs offences, or on the level of misuse? If a small amount of drugs are seized, is this less dangerous than a larger amount? One child or young person taking too much of a drug, no matter how small an amount is in the possession of the supplier, can still result in death. My heartfelt sympathy goes out to the families who are dealing with such deaths this Christmas.

I do not know if my information is factually correct, but I have heard of a machine that can scan trucks or refrigerated trucks moving around the country. I believe this scanner costs €3 million. In the context of the havoc wreaked by drugs on families and individuals and in terms of self-esteem, body image and so on, €3 million is not a lot. It would be helpful to invest in such machines with the aim of having every airport and port covered.