Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I rise to raise an issue that I am constantly raising at the risk of being a killjoy in the House. I am referring to happenings in the past week relating to the practice of neknominations, which have their roots in the United Kingdom and Australia. Unfortunately, they have been imported back to the country by our young emigrants. We are all understandably concerned at the developments here. There have been suggestions from various quarters that Facebook and other social media should step up to the mark and ban them. Remarkably, it seems that Facebook is of the view that the practice does not actually breach its conditions, which is frightening in itself.

This leads me to the wider discussion that is needed and, as far as I am concerned, could not be had often enough in the House in respect of society, namely, attitudes towards alcohol and our need to reassess Ireland's relationship with alcohol by reviewing things such as minimum pricing and the segregation of alcohol. However, we need a wider debate on society and how on earth we, as a society, can educate young people in the dangers of over-drinking.

We have never been so connected with social media, and yet so completely disconnected on this issue. Like others, I call for a debate on the progress that the Minister of State, Deputy White, is making on the public health (alcohol) Bill.

I concur with Senators White and O'Keeffe on the issues they raised. There is a worrying report by a UN agency which warns that new cases of cancer are set to rise by 50% by 2030. The study claimed that cancer deaths will likely rise from-----