Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Okay, but there was a debate of the entire House, and I do not think we should necessarily talk about what various parties said. There is a collective responsibility within the Government now that this is Government policy. The Senator can, by all means, raise the issue with the Minister for Health.

Wearing my hat as Minister of State with responsibility for agriculture, I should pull up the Senator on the suggestion these are all large companies. They are not. Many microbreweries and small distilleries are setting up and it is an onerous task for them to change the labelling. That is part of the consideration. It is easy to say they are all very large companies and that, therefore, making the changes is fine. I take on board the Senator's upset and sense that the Irish-language element is unfair and wrong, but I am just outlining the process that occurred regarding the decision-making and where it came from. I am sure the matter will be discussed further. These are draft regulations and the prescribed health warnings and information on the HSE website must be in Irish as well as in English, so that is another point. Moreover, warnings in Irish will have to be on notices in licensed premises and displayed on websites that sell alcoholic products also. This will ensure the information will be available in the Irish language at the place of purchase. Our labelling proposals are designed to inform all of us as consumers that alcohol is not a risk-free product. The information on the labels and elsewhere will let us know the health risks attached to alcohol consumption in order that we can make informed choices about that consumption.

I again thank the Senator for raising this important issue.