Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

I want to address the need for the Minister for Health and Children to contact her counterparts in the North and the Scottish Parliament to exchange ideas on how to curb the abuse of alcohol with its associated health and economic costs. I raise this specifically because the Scottish Parliament has highlighted the issue of alcohol abuse and misuse. That Parliament in recent times prioritised this as one of its key issues. It realised that Scottish alcohol consumption rates are very high as reflected in the significant economic costs from attendances at accident and emergency departments and in terms of the long-term illnesses associated with alcohol abuse. It has decided that enough is enough and something has to be done about it. I believe that Scotland is in eighth place in Europe in the alcohol consumption league. The Scots are talking about introducing minimum pricing and many types of initiatives.

I consume alcohol and I therefore declare an interest. Perhaps I do not always fulfil the criteria attached to sensible drinking at times, but the problem is that Ireland is ranked first or second with Sweden in the one league we should not be proud of, namely, high consumption of alcohol. The debate about people going to the North to buy cheap alcohol is being monitored by the Minister for Finance. A bottle of whiskey, for example, is said to be about £14 cheaper in the North than it is here and that trend is having a downward spiral on our economy because people who go there to buy alcohol tend to purchase other commodities too, which they bring back.

I am sure the vintners might argue that we should be reducing the price of alcohol to compete with the North. I suggest something completely different, however. I believe we should ask the North and Westminster, because it sets the VAT rates for the UK, to co-operate with Ireland in having the same VAT rate for alcohol — indeed, I would include cigarettes — if that is appropriate as both of those commodities price-driven in terms of where they are bought.

I was on a national radio programme not long ago on which Mr. Jeffrey Donaldson, MLA, was invited to oppose me, but instead he started to agree with me because everybody knows that availability and accessibility are key driving forces in alcohol abuse. Mr. Donaldson and all the other parliamentarians, whether they are based in Westminster, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast or Dublin, realise that our consumption rates are nothing to be proud of. On the economics of people buying alcohol in the North, they tend to purchase far more than they can consume because of the "good deal" factor. However, the expiry dates on such products can be relatively short and therefore considerable amounts may be drunk if the alcohol is to be consumed within specified deadlines.

I am not against alcohol, although I believe we have a major problem in our culture in that regard. The league tables prove we are very successful in the wrong way, in terms of our consumption. If Scotland, which is in eighth place in the league, is very worried about the health consequences for its citizens, social disorder and the cost of policing in this regard, given that Ireland is in second place, surely we should be talking to the Scots about the initiatives they intend to introduce. We should talk to the North about the introduction of such initiatives on an all-island basis and we should consider the option of a single VAT rate for both Ireland and the UK to deal with a very significant health issue.

Perhaps there will be an opportunity at North-South Ministerial Council level to look at mutual dealing in regard to what is a very significant and costly social and justice problem in this country.