Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The point is that we should drink less, and we have a day when we do not drink, so what we are saying is that we have to have this day where we can drink more. If we are really trying to promote people drinking less alcohol, we could immediately tackle below cost selling. That has not been done. There are all sorts of formulae about minimum unit pricing and that, but it is within the remit of the Government to do that initially. On the other hand, another arm of Government is funding the growth of the drinks industry, whether it is whiskey or craft beers or something else. An honest analysis is that we have a very confused position on alcohol, which represents many of the views of the public.

There has been much talk about tourism and people being able to get a drink. Listening to it, one would think that tourism would go into meltdown and would decline because tourists cannot buy a drink in a pub on Good Friday. I do not agree with that. It is overstating it.

I know that the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill idea is that if one cannot see it, people might not be inclined to buy it, and that children will not see it. Children can accompany adults who are drinking alcohol into pubs and there is no restriction on that adult having the child in the pub all day. There are so many contradictions.

There has been much talk in the House of republicanism and republican-type values and the citizen. Rather than being a good republican or a person who values the rights of citizens to choose, this is actually worshipping at the altar of globalisation. People have suggested that this is a tie to our religious history or tradition and that this is a bad thing. I agree with Senator O'Reilly. Are we really so hell bent on being homogenised and pasteurised and being the same as the rest of the world? It is a tradition and part of our identity.