Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am always worried when I have to speak after Senator O'Reilly. It is quite hard to keep up to that standard. The question of the most effective way to use labelling needs to be looked at in the context of section 11. I have listened to what Senator Colm Burke said about simple and appropriate labelling. A whiskey tourism trail has been launched in my part of the world. There is a huge Jameson visitor centre in Midleton.I do not think that is the kind of industry we are trying to affect with this labelling system. When we consider the promotion of the Irish whiskey trail, overly offensive labelling could damage the tourism outlook of those towns and of the product itself, which, to say the very least, has a high alcohol content. Any labelling requirements should be sensible and appropriate to the product. As a Government, we are putting money into a tourism strategy for this product and are promoting it. Some of these whiskeys cost hundreds of euros per bottle and have exceptionally high alcohol content. Most of them are bought never to be drunk but to keep. As we have seen in Scotland, it is a lucrative market, so we need to be sensitive about this. If we are not, there could be a knock-on effect on what is a thriving tourism market. In the southern part of the island, the tourism numbers of the Jameson visitor centre in Midleton are second only to Fota Island. It is a huge industry and we need to protect it. If we are to bring them in, labelling requirements should be sensible and suitable to the product.