Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's opening statement, which was very positive. I will discuss the main issues that have been discussed with regard to section 20 but it is very important that we can look at and reflect on how we are going to enforce those issues when section 20 comes up.

I have an issue with minimum unit pricing in section 10. This is not because of the ability to be effective in the marketplace. The big issue is when it can be enforced in the marketplace. Unfortunately, this Bill was drafted pre-Brexit. The Northern Ireland Assembly is not operational. If we had minimum unit pricing, it has been argued that we would need the co-operation of the Assembly and an all-Ireland approach for it to work. There is the great threat that we might not be in that space for a long time. I have no idea how Brexit is going to turn out or when the Northern Ireland Assembly will be reinstated. Given this flux, this part of the Bill might not be implemented if passed. That is a problem. Traditionally, we had a groceries order, which was taken out by the former Minister, Deputy Micheál Martin, and Fianna Fáil back in the day. It is important that we realise that in the interim, we should look at something along the lines of a groceries order until the institutions in Northern Ireland are up and running and Brexit has been sorted out. Many Houses of the Oireachtas could sit and be disbanded before those two issues are sorted. We need to look at putting something like the groceries order in place. This would then put a floor or minimum price on alcohol. At the moment, someone can go into any shop in Ireland and buy a naggin of vodka for €6.50. Twenty years ago, someone could go into an off-licence and buy a bottle of vodka for €20. The person working there would get possibly €4 or €5 per hour. The minimum wage is now €9 or heading towards it and for that, a person can get such a volume of spirits, it is frightening. The big issue is price and we must tackle this issue. If we tackle the issue of price, we can really tackle the core issue of how we can stop the unfortunate spectacle of alcohol being sold at cost price. That is what is happening. Even if it is cost price-----