Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is not related to the issue of labelling but only to the amendments that the Dáil made on labelling.

Amendments Nos. 2 and 3 propose that the health warnings and information required on notices in licensed premises and on websites where alcohol products are sold online should be both in Irish and in English. The health warnings and information required in section 12, which deals with the labelling of alcohol products and notices in licensed premises, provide a unique opportunity to communicate health promotion messages directly to consumers. I accept the importance of ensuring that the information, where possible and where it can benefit public health, should be communicated in both Irish and English. These appear to be two sensible amendments from Deputy Donnelly in the Dáil that I was happy to accept. The simple idea is that if the health notice and website are already agreed in the Bill, they should also be in Irish, which is a sensible thing to do.

Amendment No. 6 proposes that data from the health services and alcohol related presentations at health facilities should be taken into account when making regulations on the health warnings and information on labels. As Senator Norris has pointed out, this is the exact same policy point but it just refers this time to the label. Should we take into consideration the impact on our hospital beds and our health service when deciding what information should be on labels? It sounded to me like a sensible thing to do and we accepted that in the Dáil.

Amendment No. 7 is a change. It proposes to exempt alcohol products in tax-free shops and airports from the product labelling requirement. It also provides that the same health warnings and information should be on notices in duty free shops, which means they will have to have those notices, and that the additional information on each product should also be available on a document for the consumer. The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that there is a level playing field for Irish alcohol products that are leaving the country and other products that might be for sale in duty free shops and that they will be treated in a similar way to export products. That is sensible. It is duty free, they are likely to be leaving the country, and we should treat them the same as the way we treat the rest of export products in this Bill.