David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would like to raise one issue following on from what Senator Mullins said about drinking over the Christmas. I was listening to the wireless this morning and there was an item about the way in which the drinks companies are specifically and deliberately targeting young people. They are doing so with merchandise. It has been demonstrated by academic studies that children in possession of drinks company merchandise are, I think, four times more likely to become involved with drink in a damaging way. It is time we took on the drinks companies on this.

The voluntary approach to this is rubbish. Some stupid creature goes around blathering about drinking safely and such like. There are large advertisements that suggest one will be sexually, socially and financially successful if one has a good slop of a particular brand of beer, gin or whisky, and then at the bottom appear the words "drink carefully". That is not what they want at all. They want us to gorge ourselves on their products and make profits for them.

It is no longer Uncle Arthur, who was a fairly benevolent figure in this city and did contribute; it is now Diageo, which makes underground railway trains, lavatory paper, contraceptives - I do not know what else it makes but it is not a bit interested in the welfare of people here. These executives sit in boardrooms in London and New York and look at graphs. The only way they want to see them go is up, and damn the consequences for the young people. I would like to ask the Leader if we can have a debate on the problem of alcohol in this country.