Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I had the honour on Monday of opening and welcoming participants to a workshop conference held in Bru Youth Services in Crumlin. The forum was organised by Paula Leonard of the Irish Community Action on Alcohol Network, ICANN, which is the alcohol forum. It was attended by members of the local drug and alcohol task force in my area of Dublin 12 and by people from the WHO. Several striking aspects arose. We first watched a video prepared by the Canal Communities and the Dublin 12 drug and alcohol task force. This highlighted that 49 outlets sold alcohol in a small area of Dublin 12 and Dublin 8 in 1991. By 2018, this number had increased to 125. People in recovery from alcohol addiction may, in a very short journey home, now pass four or five outlets selling alcohol. We also saw the launch of the European Framework for Action on Alcohol 2022-2025, which explores how alcohol is advertised and its presence in every aspect of our lives. There are links between alcohol use and breast cancer and other types of cancers. It is a substance that is an intoxicant and yet we do not discuss this fact. We just accept alcohol as part of our social lives. Another aspect, and one I am particularly passionate about, is that a drinks industry-funded organisation is providing education in our schools on alcohol misuse. This is a wholly inappropriate organisation to be doing this. The Department of Education must issue a circular to stop this organisation from having access to any schools in our country. Fantastic organisations, like ICANN, have expertise in this area. Representatives of the health service have come out and spoken against this programme run by Drink Aware in schools. This is wholly inappropriate and must be stopped. Appropriate people, not attached to or sponsored in any way by the drinks industry, should be rolling out an awareness programme on alcohol and its attendant issues in our schools and educating our young people in this regard.