Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Some Senators made comments on the Internet. This question is of grave concern to us. In fact, we are examining the proposals in the amendment in question and we hope to come back to the House on Report Stage. Sponsorship by alcohol companies will be restricted under section 15. It will be an offence for a person to sponsor an event where the majority of individuals taking part are children, an event aimed particularly at children, those involved in well known cartoons characters for example or an event that involves driving, racing cars or bikes.

The subsection provides that licence holders can sponsor an event if alcohol products or brands are not advertised or promoted. Subsection (3) defines sponsorship as a public or private contribution to an event with the aim of direct or indirect effect of promoting alcohol product or brand or alcohol consumption. I think that should deal with the query.

In regard to the consumption of alcohol at sporting events, that is subject to the licensing laws about where and when people can, but that is a very important point and I would be very happy to bring that to the relevant Minister as well.

A Senator raised the issue of advertising on the national broadcasting service.