Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, mentioned when discussing an earlier section, in respect of a proposal made in our budget submission, of which the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar, appeared to be in favour at the Cabinet, the possibility of a levy on lid-on or off sales, but it did not materialise. My personal view - Senator John Gilroy agreed with me - is that the money should go towards suicide prevention measures and dealing with mental health issues. The Minister said there was a European dimension that prevented us from doing this, which is a matter of concern. This is an area in which, not necessarily to penalise the drinks companies or consumers, harnessing what might be positive consumer sentiment would contribute to the ring-fencing of an amount of money when, effectively, people were making a purchase to enjoy themselves. A general vox pop I have carried out demonstrates very positive views. Various figures have been bandied around as to what amounts of money would be raised. The vintners say it would be up to ¤200 million, but I think it would be closer to ¤120 million. That ¤120 million would cover the entire ¤88 million required for the suicide prevention policy which we submitted in recent weeks and ¤22 million would be left over for the accelerated roll-out of A Vision for Change. I am sure the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, would be delighted with that amount of money and I genuinely believe the public at large, if informed, would listen. This is not a tax forgone issue, rather it would be a levy that would be specifically ring-fenced for this area. Senator Sean D. Barrett spoke about the success of the National Roads Authority in reducing the number of deaths on the roads. This could form part of the panacea or solution to this problem. If there is a European Union angle that prevents it from happening, the issue should be prioritised at the Council of Ministers. I am sure the proposal would find favour Europe-wide if we were to say this was a measure we could embrace. If there is an aspect of an EU directive on competition or other law that would prevent it, the Council of Ministers, during the Irish Presidency, could remove it and harness what could be a vehicle to harness public sentiment by ring-fencing a contribution specific to an area, while people enjoyed themselves in the depths of the recession. This proposal could find favour and raise much needed funds for a critical area.