Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

They are called "loss leaders". When one picks up the newspaper on a Sunday, one says "Oh my goodness" when one reads that one can buy a whole case of Carlsberg, Budweiser or Canadian for €15. The cheapest price for which a publican could buy the same case would be approximately €17.50. Slabs can be bought at a very cheap price. How can supermarkets sell these products at such low prices unless they are loss leaders? The same thing applies to vodka advertised by Eurospar. Captain Morgan Spiced Gold, which sounds very attractive, is retailing at €23, but the cheapest a publican can buy it for at a wholesale outlet is €22.50. Slabs of Carlsberg, Corona, Heineken and Budweiser are advertised for sale in SuperValu for €15 each, but the cheapest a publican can buy such a slab for is €17.38.

I thank the Chair for giving me a certain latitude in the points I am making at the outset of Committee Stage. I appreciate that very welcome restrictions in relation to minimum volume sales are introduced later in the Bill, but there are ways of getting around that. I ask the Minister of State to consider that drink should be separate from groceries. Alcohol should not be part of the grocery trade. I can get a €10 voucher from one of the big supermarkets - Dunnes Stores, Tesco, SuperValu or Londis - if I buy over €50 worth of groceries. That is a regular marketing tool. If I buy a bottle of vodka, a bottle of gin and a bottle of wine, I will get €10 back if that comes to more than €50, so the actual cost will be closer to €40. It is a form of subsidisation. I am reasonable in my point of view. I understand the complications. I am not being simplistic. It will not be easy to solve this.

The point I am making is that this amendment basically relates to television advertising of alcohol, but I wonder whether the Minister of State should consider the whole question of newspaper advertising of under-priced alcohol. I refer to loss leaders that are aimed at bringing customers in on the day in question. It is strange that as we approach Christmas, bottles of Jameson whiskey will be sold for €25, even though the lowest amount for which a publican can buy the same bottle is approximately €29. What is happening? It is quite demeaning for those involved in this business to have to go to the local supermarket to buy drink for their pubs. Pubs are under pressure in rural Ireland. I suppose I had better give a declaration of interest. I am involved in the Castlecoote Lodge Bar and replica Dáil and Seanad lounge in Castlecoote, County Roscommon. I hope I have made that declaration in case anyone says I have a vested interest in this matter. I have a knowledge of the pub trade. When I served as a Dáil Deputy for 15 and a half years, most of my clinics took place in pubs. I am sure the Minister, Deputy Harris, holds clinics in pubs. I am sure that is also part and parcel of the Minister of State's work. I want to be fair and reasonable about this important Bill.