Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

My amendment sets out to achieve the objectives of the two previous amendments. It is a question of the best method to achieve the objective. It is important to restate that we have an alcohol problem. We have a problem with binge drinking. There is a frightening culture of drinking among our youth, which has enormous health and social implications. The progression to other forms of substance abuse begins with abuse of and dependency on alcohol. It is progressive and there is a link. Those who tabled the previous two amendments made it clear that we have a problem with alcohol in our society.

Implicit in the Bill's proposed ban on advertising of junk food is an acceptance of the power of advertising. We do not necessarily need empirical research to establish that advertising is extremely powerful on both radio and television because we know the companies that invest in it would not put that money in if it was not creating a return. The advertising is effective. We first need to establish those two principles. We have a problem and advertising is effective in perpetuating the problem.

My amendment is a pragmatic, sensible and workable proposal to draw up a broadcasting code by the new authority in collaboration with the drinks industry, the temperance organisations, including the Pioneer Total Abstinence Organisation which does great work in this area, and youth groupings. They are all stakeholders with an interest in the area. Those people should be consulted and the authority should establish a broadcasting code for drink advertising. That code should focus on audience age at a given time of day. I take the point made by Senator Mullen that there is a blurring, and in contemporary society the watershed times are hard to establish, as there is an overlap between viewing times of different age groupings. Things are not as clear-cut as they might have been. However, the code should address the issue of audience age at a given time. It should be mindful not to have advertising available at a time when the audience of young people is maximised.

It should consider the nature of the advertisements, particularly television advertisements. It should consider whether those advertisements suggest a link between alcohol, and sexual prowess and glamorous sex lives. It should also address the exploitation of women that is also involved in those advertisements and the degree to which they perpetuate the drink culture and problem. The code should propose the elimination of sexually explicit advertisements that are an insult to womanhood and represent a problem in the drink area.

The code should address sponsorship that provides subtle advertising. Some of the most effective subliminal advertising is where the drinks industry has links to particular programmes, and sport and cultural youth events, including song and music contests and drama. These are called "stings" and such advertising should be reviewed. The code should regulate that aspect and also the target age group, the nature of advertisements and the type of sponsorship allowed. It should also regulate the amount of alcohol advertisements. The code should specify fines and disciplinary procedures for breaches of the code to ensure compliance with the code.

I regard this as a pragmatic and sensible amendment. I appeal to the Minister of State to accept it as a method to achieve the objective of us all, which is to protect vulnerable people from being influenced by pernicious advertising that could damage their future.

The amendment specifies that if agreement cannot be reached between the authority and the stakeholders — the drinks industry might not agree even though there is no reason it should not and it would if the imperative was there — then the authority would have the right to act unilaterally and ban certain advertisements at a given time as it saw fit and to deal with the issue on its own with professional advice. A voluntary code is always more workable. However, if a voluntary code cannot be agreed — I believe it would — the authority would have the ultimate sanction to impose the regulation.

I appeal to the Minister of State to accept this amendment as a pragmatic and sensible way to deal with the difficulty. While it could be subject to review in the future, I believe it could work to realistically deal with a very difficult issue in a slightly incremental but nonetheless effective way.