Mary Moran (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wished to say more about the marketing and advertising of alcohol. Children and young people are bombarded with positive images of alcohol through marketing of the product, as was referred to earlier. In effect, the alcohol industry is the child?s primary educator on alcohol. A recent report by a leading youth organisation in Ireland revealed that young people were highly aware of alcohol marketing and had noticed marketing on television, in magazines, on the Internet and in on-street flyers. Senator Leyden referred to television, and "Coronation Street" and even Irish soaps such as "Fair City" suggest everything takes place in the pub - I sometimes think they drink, eat and sleep in the pub.

To say that children and young people are not influenced by alcohol marketing is equivalent to saying that they suddenly wake up and begin to see and hear on their 18th birthday. They are constantly absorbing information and are the primary users of new media. In Ireland, there is no statutory regulation of alcohol marketing, just a voluntary code, and this code does not include the marketing of alcohol through digital media.

Besides advertising, children are target-marketed through sponsorship of sporting and music events, promotions and offers of alcohol brand-related merchandise and product placement in popular entertainment. Perhaps this would be a good place to start. There has already been plenty of reaction from the drinks industry to the calls from the national substance misuse strategy report for an extensive range of prohibitions and restrictions on the advertising of alcohol products.

I highly commend the recommendations within the report and I fully support the Minister of State in his work in this area.