Seanad debates

Thursday, 20 June 2013

10:40 am

Photo of Paschal MooneyPaschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I second the amendment to the Order of Business proposed by our party leader in the House, Senator Darragh O'Brien, and wish to expand a little on his very trenchant and accurate comments on the most recent savage cut introduced by the Government. Why is it that it always seems to go for the soft touch? This comes just 24 hours after reading in the national media that the Minister for Finance is indicating "an easy budget". What does "an easy budget" mean? Does it mean that it will provide more resources for those from whom the Government has been taking them away in the past couple of years? I refer not only to special needs but also to single parent families. We had a debate in the past couple of days on the manner in which they are being treated with regard to jobseeker's allowance. The Government has introduced a range of initiatives under the cover of austerity which really only affect those who are most vulnerable in our society. This is one example and it is time it stopped.

I also wish to raise an issue that arose at the transport committee yesterday. I endorse the comments of Mr. Pat Hickey of the Olympic Council of Ireland which have been widely reported in the media this morning and in which he criticised, correctly, comments made by Diageo at the weekend. Who does this company think it is? It even has the Government of the day siding with it whenever leading celebrities come to this country. The first place they are photographed is at the Guinness Storehouse drinking a pint. That is a terrible image of the country to convey and it is time it stopped. In the future the Government should be advised that it is the last place to which anybody coming to the country should be taken to sip pints, sending pictures around the world showing the country to be nothing more than a place where people drink. It is time that stopped and I hope it will.

The reason Mr. Hickey was present at the committee meeting yesterday was to provide a debriefing on the Olympic Games. We also strayed into the area of alcohol and sport. The transport committee is in the process of discussing a final report in this regard which will be presented to the Government. There is a draft report which was leaked to the media last weekend. Regardless of the spin put on the report by RTE and every other media outlet, no final decision or conclusion has been made on what the committee will do about the link between sport and alcohol. It is a draft report and a sub-committee has been set up to investigate it further. I call on all Members of this House to respond to an e-mail sent by the clerk to the committee yesterday inviting submissions on this very important issue in order that we can obtain a comprehensive response from all Members of both Houses in this regard. Will the Leader consider inviting the Minister of State with responsibility for sport, Deputy Michael Ring, or the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar, to discuss this very important issue and allow the House to have a debate on the link between alcohol and sport?

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