David Norris (Independent)

I will do a bit of research when I have had my say. I thank the Acting Chairman.

I am generally in sympathy with the argument made by Senator Mullen but, as he indicated, mine is slightly more radical. In fact it is considerably more radical because it looks for a total ban on alcohol advertising and proposes a substantial fine. The reason for this is that the abuse of alcohol throughout society, not just by young people, is a very costly business to the Exchequer and is very damaging to the health of the nation. We are in the middle of a crisis in this country because of the excessive consumption of drink. We have one of the worst rates of binge drinking in the entire world and that is partly driven by advertising. We know it is an extremely serious health problem and it draws on the resources of the State to deal with the consequences of drink. The situation has a direct parallel in the impact of smoking. The Government took an enormously courageous decision to make an outright ban on the advertising of cigarettes. It moved then to limit the places where one could smoke.

I am not talking about limiting the places where people can drink or even limiting the availability of drink, although I have said many times that one of the factors that has led to this situation is the extraordinary proliferation of licensing of small retail outlets such as corner shops, supermarkets and mini markets. However, I am not dealing with that. I am simply dealing with the advertising of alcohol. What we have done with cigarettes we can do with alcohol. Anything less is a half measure. Television advertising in particular would be affected by such a change as there are not that many drink advertisements on radio. The reason is that companies use the massive visual appeal of television and they have the money so to do. We are dealing with a completely unscrupulous drinks industry that deliberately targets young people. We have seen that with alcopops and the new alcoshots that are highly concentrated.

I am not impressed by the group, MEAS, which is the Irish for respect. I have no respect for it. I know exactly what it is. I have watched its spokespeople on television defending the drinks industry. It is a fig leaf. It is a cosmetic operation by the drinks industry to conceal what it is doing.

My amendment proposes discontinuing the broadcast of advertisements for alcohol. That is a clear, clean, simple and radical step. It will be problematic but if the Minister of State accepted it he would get the kind of kudos that the then Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, got for introducing the smoking ban.