Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In general, this is a fantastic Bill and I support it. Alcohol is a scourge on our society. Many of us have relations or friends who suffer from addiction problems. Alcohol is a real demon in our society.

I wish to draw the attention of the House to the question of monitoring advertising on the Internet. In 2014, we saw the phenomenon of Neknomination on Facebook. It inspired children to down a pint of lager, nominate friends to do the same and then post the footage on the Internet. It was an unbelievable phase and certainly some deaths stemmed from it. The Government should come together with the governments of other member states to ensure monitoring of alcohol advertisements on the Internet, whether this involves monitoring viral videos on YouTube or Facebook. Something needs to be done to tackle how alcohol is advertised to our young people. We are all doomed, but we really need to look after future generations.