Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----and they are looking to us tonight to find out when we are going to sort this out, and when we are going to have the courage of our convictions as an Oireachtas to put in place legislation. I think we can leave here tonight, whenever that will be, telling them that we have made significant progress. We have improved the Bill, and we accepted 25 amendments. We will have engagement on that one issue with a view to reducing the visibility of alcohol in shops but in a way that minimises the financial burden or impact. I have put forward some ideas in that regard.

It is not all about having to have structural separation with locks and keys and people hiding behind curtains. There has been extreme hyperbole in the 13 months between last October and tonight on the issue. I tabled an amendment that would allow visibility of a significant amount of alcohol. Even industry can see it is a workable measure for a number of shops as well. I will engage on that basis. I will also make the point that the legislation says "not readily visible". Without getting into a very technical discussion or perhaps even a legal discussion about "readily visible", it is not the same as invisible. It is in that space that we should have that discussion.

I would also make a point for those who report on these debates or comment on them. It is nonsense to say that the Minister is open to amending the Bill, or that he is watering it down. I spent a lot of the weekend looking back at the debates and the media reportage of the debate in 2004 on the smoking ban, and also the coverage of it ten years' on and the impact it had made. Deputy Micheál Martin also amended his Bill in a number of ways. There were measures concerning hotel rooms, for example, that were amended as the Bill went through the legislative process. By the way, he also had to deal with people in his own Cabinet publicly opposing the Bill. Public health legislation is never easy.