Michael Mullins (Fine Gael)

I strongly support Senator Ó Murchú in regard to the concert in the Phoenix Park. While insufficient arrangements were in place for the orderly running of a concert, it is clear most of the problem was alcohol-fuelled. Clearly, a major scandal here is the issue of below-cost selling and a lack of control of alcohol. The multiples are running rings around us as legislators and around the Revenue Commissioners. There are three issues, including the damage to health and the associated costs of rehabilitating people severely damaged by alcohol. The loss of revenue to the Exchequer is alarming. A colleague produced figures over the weekend showing that one item sold below cost by Tesco during a bank holiday weekend cost the State €250,000. This one item over one weekend puts the magnitude of the problem in context. It is causing damage to small businesses and it is closing down pubs. I was in a small shop in Kilconnell, outside Ballinasloe. The owner of the shop told me he was not renewing his liquor licence, which costs €1,000, because he cannot compete. It cost him over €24 to buy a case of alcohol direct from the supplier. It was being sold in a multiple in Ballinasloe for €18. That is another €1,000 lost to the State. We need a debate on how alcohol is regulated and controlled and how the State is losing so much money through the manipulation of the system, to their advantage, by the multiples. They are destroying the lives of so many young people. I support the call on the Leader to do something about this at the earliest possible occasion.