Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

"Is it little more than a fiction that Parliament and Government are sovereign? [...] Are Governments nowadays to be compared to the totally deaf Beethoven in his later years, just being allowed to go through the motions of conducting the orchestra while the real control is being exercised elsewhere?" This is a quote from T.K. Whitaker, dated over 30 years ago. I too wish him a happy birthday. He has done an excellent job in the public interest and for this State.

Last night, psychiatrist Peter Rice from Scotland addressed the Irish Cancer Society. He is the chair of the executive committee of the Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems. It is telling that this series of talks around the country, hosted by the Irish Cancer Society, is called "Decoding Cancer". A total of 900 incidents of cancer are directly related to alcohol intake and 500 deaths a year are due to alcohol-related cancers. This is important because we will be discussing and hopefully passing the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015. Awareness of alcohol as a cancer-causing agent is very low. People are aware of cirrhosis of the liver and so on but women in particular should be aware of the incidence of breast cancer which rises as alcohol consumption by women is rising. I would like the Leader to support the presentation by the Irish Cancer Society to decode cancer for Members of this House.