Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Public Health (Alcohol) Bill is much in discussion owing to its being considered in the Houses of the Oireachtas. I was dismayed and shocked to hear recently that a pub in Cork has been granted a licence although it is using a loyalty card scheme, despite Garda objections. We are trying to discourage harmful drinking and reduce the amount people drink with the introduction of the Bill and other such measures. The licensing decision encourages harmful, excessive drinking. Such a business model will inevitably cause further harm, with the possibility of public order offences and other problems arising.

Section 16 of the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2008 permits the making of regulations in the interest of public health and safety but no regulations have been made to date. This is totally unacceptable. As has been said in this House on numerous occasions, alcohol consumption has trebled since 1960 although there have been slight reductions in various areas. Overall, we are drinking in a more harmful way. A loyalty scheme is completely against everything we are trying to work on at present. The figures are truly alarming and, as such, we must do all we can to prevent excessive drinking, not encourage it. Section 16 is due to be repealed and replaced by the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill and, as such, we must do all in our power to ensure this section is enforced by introducing regulations that would prevent such initiatives as the pub loyalty card scheme. Imagine circumstances in which the Garda is saying a pub should not be given a licence because of what it is proposing but it still gets the licence. That is completely unacceptable.