Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. I welcome the Minister and commend this important and vital Bill. I hope we make significant progress on this legislation so that it comes through in its full form without dilution. In fact, it needs to be strengthened. To that end, I have seconded some of the amendments tabled by my colleague, Senator Black, including amendment No. 9, which proposes to strengthen the Bill by ensuring the definition of "sell" in section 2 includes "supply for the purpose of promoting the use of another service" and "supply in the purchase of another good or service".

When I lived in Vietnam in the 1990s, at a time when strict regulation of the tobacco industry was being introduced in Europe, I saw for myself the manner in which young Asian women were consistently targeted as a market which traditionally did not smoke. I attended concerts at which people were given sports bags filled with cigarettes along with their tickets without request. If we do not make these amendments, there is a real danger that we will see alcohol bundled with other products in a way that could lead to the promotion of a relationship with alcohol for people who, in many cases, have neither requested nor sought such a relationship.

It is vital that the consumption of alcohol should always be a choice. It should not be given away. It should not be a persistent or, for some, relentless suggestion within society. Pressure to consume alcohol should not be attached to participation in any area of life or public life, or to the consumption of any of the other goods we have in society. It must not be seen as an automatic accompaniment to daily life or to social occasions. I believe that is the intent and spirit of this Bill. I encourage the Minister and others to support these amendments to ensure that is strengthened.

We are very aware that alcohol is accompanied by serious health harm. This is known to be the actual accompaniment to alcohol. This is the packaging that comes through. I refer to the proven risk of cancer, the three deaths per day and the cost of €1.5 billion to our health service in 2012. If we can leave aside the social and human costs of alcohol abuse, which are the crucial drivers of this Bill, we can also point out that the economic cost associated with it is immense.

I support amendment No. 42, which proposes the establishment of a review board. I think it is vital that the Minister would have a review board that would include public health experts but not representatives of the alcohol industry. This legislation is not an exercise in self-regulation; it is the fulfilment of our duty as regulators and as legislators to provide for meaningful State regulation. I will refrain from speaking on amendment No. 42 until it is before the House. I urge support for all the amendments proposed by my colleague, Senator Black, particularly amendment No. 9.