Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

The debate around this legislation is about reducing the consumption of alcohol and, hopefully, reducing the negative social and medical effects that alcohol abuse causes Irish people. When I started college over 20 years ago there were holy hours, early closing on Sundays and restrictive times for nightclubs but even then there was a problem in this country with alcohol abuse. Holy hours and the like went by the wayside around ten years ago and extended hours were introduced but the past decade has seen a massive increase in the consumption of alcohol. Most of this increase has been driven by the availability of alcohol in off-licences and supermarkets to be taken home for consumption.

People have spoken of the need to stagger nightclub closing times, which is very sensible. We must be sensible about how people socialise in this country. Young people of college-going age like to stay out late at night and they have the ability to then get up early, go to college or work and do what must be done. We must be sensible and consider staggered hours.

It is more important, however, that the nightclubs are properly policed because we see what is happening on our streets. In many of the UK programmes referred to by Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú it is clear that nightclubs are responsible because they pile people who are destroyed by alcohol onto the streets. It is clear that many of them were served alcohol long after they lost any capacity to make a sensible decision on what to do after leaving the nightclub. The problem is not so much to do with opening hours but with what happens regarding the distribution of alcohol in nightclubs.

The same problem applies to off-licences and the availability of alcohol to people who wish to take it home with them. There has been a huge explosion in accessibility to alcohol. Off-licences were difficult to find 20 years ago and it was harder to get alcohol in supermarkets. Alcohol was also far more expensive then — it is very cheap now and is promoted as just another grocery item in supermarkets. We must consider reducing accessibility to alcohol and changing attitudes to the consumption of alcohol and I do not know whether this legislation will do this or whether future legislation will be necessary in this regard.

The acceptance of alcohol abuse in this country is more complex than we admit. I do not believe that access to alcohol in public houses and nightclubs is the root of our problems. Alcohol consumption in Ireland has increased dramatically in the past decade and the ease and acceptability of taking alcohol home has caused this. When people make an effort and when the area is policed properly, alcohol consumption can be controlled.

I am trying to be sensible. In a pure world nobody would drink alcohol, nobody would smoke, everyone would exercise regularly, nobody would be overweight and I would be out of a job but this, unfortunately, is not the reality. People will always abuse alcohol, though sometimes it will be an occasional thing. Some people abuse alcohol rarely but on the occasions they do they may put themselves in situations with terrible outcomes. I have seen people who have been seriously injured and who have died due to an inability to handle alcohol. However, somebody gave them the alcohol and put them in that situation. This is what we must go after.

This legislation will not address all of these concerns but if there is one big change the Minister might make it is to stagger the hours of nightclubs. This will make a huge difference and the rules should be enforced properly to ensure nightclubs are responsible for the people inside their four walls. The Minister of State, who is in the House, previously owned a pub and I know he would never serve alcohol to a person who is blind drunk and get a bad reputation for his establishment. This responsibility needs to be enforced — people must be held responsible for what happens in their nightclubs as this will help us protect people.

In the long term we must restrict access to alcohol and not make it so easily available, though this is not covered in this legislation and I do not know how it will be done. Buying alcohol today has become like buying milk and butter and, in many cases, people buy strong spirits that have a very negative effect, not only on their health but on the people in their houses. This is what we must focus on.