David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I again welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Alex White, to the House. I have already had the opportunity to congratulate him on his appointment. I am certain that he will take up the baton from his predecessor, Deputy Róisín Shortall, because I know they share the same vision and she had made significant progress in this area. The Minister of State will complete this progress because it is extremely important to do so.

I am very glad to witness a change in the debate on alcohol abuse. Throughout the entire quarter of a century I have been a Member I have been raising this issue. In the early days I was laughed at from all sides of the House. It was a not matter that was taken seriously when it should have been. However, we are not alone, as it is a serious problem across the world. Globally, there are 2.3 million premature deaths caused by alcohol consumption which is responsible for 4% of the overall premature death figure. It has severe effects in Ireland because we are at the higher end of the alcohol consumption table, which has been the case for some time. One can go back to Fr. Mathew and his Quaker friend who jointly started the Teetotal Abstinence Society in 1838. Now up to 81% of Irish adults are drinkers and the number of women drinking has increased extraordinarily.

The number of outlets selling alcohol has expanded vastly. I remember raising the question of how these places were licensed. It seemed as if every little huckster shop and supermarket could open an outlet. In some instances, local communities, the local authorities and the police all objected to their opening, but they were still allowed to open. Why? I asked that question on television and got into trouble for doing so.

Alcohol promotions such as happy hour and buy a tray of beer for ¤1 should be stopped. It is absolute nonsense and guaranteed to undermine people?s health.

We can either operate the existing law or create new law to end distance sales. It is possible to ring an off-licence and have drink delivered, and young people are doing this often. As they cannot afford to drink in pubs, they lay a basis for the end goal, which is not socialising but being drunk, at home and then go out and complete the process in pubs where they can afford it.

Consumption is twice what it was in 1960. Senator Cummins gave the figures but it is twice what it was when I did my intermediate certificate. It is a vast figure and if one breaks it down, it is the equivalent of 44 bottles of vodka, 474 pints or 124 bottles of wine. These numbers increase if one takes out of the equation the 20% of non-drinkers. It is a vast amount. If one were to stack up all 44 vodka bottles or 124 bottles of wine, one would get some notion of how much people are drinking.

There has been a fivefold increase between 1990 and 2006 in the number of off-licences. We know from international studies that accessibility and affordability are the two prime issues, along with advertising. We need to do something about advertising because people are gulled into the idea that they are more sexually attractive and more likely to have a conquest and a good time if they take particular types of drinks. The use of the lure of sexual promise is very dangerous, especially with young people, and we must be very careful about the way in which it is used. I pay no attention to those groups funded by the drinks industry to promote the idea that one can drink safely and so on. Of course one can and for many people it is possible to enjoy a social drink, but I am wary of these groups because they are not independent. When they refer to drinking safely I do not really believe they mean it.

The costs are vast and I believe they are even worse than those referred to already. My information is that they amount to more than ¤3 billion per year and that the cost to the Exchequer is almost ¤3,500 per household for alcohol-related problems. That is a vast amount of money. It may not seem to be quite as much as it would have been in the old days before we started landing out ¤3 billion every so often to bail out the bondholders, but it is nevertheless a vast amount of money.

Two thirds of women in the Coombe hospital stated that they were habitual drinkers, even during pregnancy. This can have a dangerous effect on the foetus. We spoke earlier about protecting women's health but this is a more significant problem than that raised on the Order of Business. The number of children affected is also significant. A total of 100,000 children reported the negative impact of alcohol in their family lives as well as the impacts on mental health and suicide. Alcohol is a depressant and a significant proportion of people are admitted to psychiatric hospitals because of alcohol-related illnesses. It is a contributory factor in 97% of public order offences, a startling and astonishing statistic. It also has an impact on the number of injuries. Anyone familiar with hospitals, and in particular with accident and emergency departments, will know the situation that occurs especially every weekend when the treatment of what I regard as legitimate injuries is frequently interrupted and made difficult by people who are either drunk or on drugs. The vast number of drunks who turn up at accident and emergency departments, especially at weekends, needs to be seriously addressed because it is dangerous for other patients. I remember listening to a radio programme in which someone reported that a man who was drunk came into the accident and emergency department of St. James's Hospital.

He was very difficult, obstreperous and violent with the nursing staff. He then vomited and proceeded to urinate against the wall. He was eventually brought out by security staff who called a taxi but he wandered off before it arrived. The listeners to this programme, however, attacked the hospital for this which is completely wrong. That man, by his grossly selfish, inappropriate and irresponsible behaviour, was possibly exposing people with open wounds to infection by his barbarous and disgusting acts. People like that should be placed in a safe and secure location until the morning when they are then charged in the courts. That may help cure their hangover for them.