Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like others, I welcome the Minister to the House. As always, his approach is very appropriate. It is not one of dictatorship but is a communal approach. We live in a republic and that is why I am allowed to stand up and say what I would like to say openly and freely about what I firmly believe the Minister is attempting to do here. Like Senator Boyhan, I very much welcome 99% of what is contained in this Bill. I have some concerns about section 20 and we can come to these concerns at that stage. To follow on from what Senator Lombard said, which is an issue I raised quite a number of times, while I very much welcome the minimum pricing of alcohol, it is accompanied by difficulties, including economic difficulties, particularly for the part of the country from which Senator O'Reilly and I come - Cavan, Monaghan and the Border region. There is no point in putting a minimum price on alcohol in the Twenty-Six Counties unless the same is done in the Six Counties. We think that alcohol is below price at the moment in some of our supermarkets. There are still people who are able to cross the Border and get it far more cheaply and they are doing that. The danger with implementing this as a 26 county measure and not a 32 county measure is that it will intensify the numbers of people from the Border region in particular but also further afield, as has happened over the years, travelling over the Border. While they are up there buying alcohol, they will also buy their electric products and some of their groceries so we must take into consideration the full effect of this Bill. I very much welcome the health implications of the Bill and the thinking behind that but unless we approach this on a 32 county basis, it will have a detrimental effect on the economy in the Border region. I very much agree with what Senator Lombard said in this regard. I do not know how we would do it but we must come up with some way of ensuring that while we raise the price of alcohol here, it will not drive people to the Six Counties to purchase.