Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was not in the House for Second Stage when the Bill came before the previous Oireachtas. I acknowledge the presence of a former Senator, Ms van Turnhout, who was a pivotal member of the Joint Committee on Health and Children that I chaired. Senator Colm Burke was a member of that committee as well.

That committee undertook pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill. I welcome the Minister of State and commend her on her initiative this afternoon. It is important, in the context of the debate, that we consider the harmful relationship we have with alcohol.

Let us put some facts on the table as part of the discourse in considering the Bill. Alcohol consumption is on the increase. Approximately 80% of the population consumes alcohol and half of those who consume alcohol are harmful high-risk drinkers.Almost 10% of those who consume alcohol are dependent on it and that feature increases as we go up the age groups. What is important in the context of this debate is the overarching aim of the Minister of State to try to reach a solution where we can reduce the impact of alcohol on our public health system, on the number of work days lost and improve the quality of life for our citizens. If we consider the issue in the context of the incidence of liver cirrhosis and dependency on alcohol by many in our society, there is an issue not least in terms of people's physical health but their mental health and the fact that 1,500 hospital beds are occupied per night for alcohol-related reasons.

I do not intend to contribute much to the debate as I want to allow our spokesperson and other Members to contribute. The pre-legislative scrutiny of this legislation recognised that not one size fits all with regard to the issue of alcohol misuse. There are some who do not share in supporting the Minister of State's responsibility and who do not want to see alcohol consumption reduced. If we were all to be honest, and in that I include the Members opposite in particular, when we changed the Groceries Order and allowed alcohol to be sold freely, it was probably the wrong thing to do. That should not have been allowed to happen.