Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)

I, too, compliment the Senators for tabling this Bill. Having gone through it, I fully support the Bill in principle. I grew up in a time that, when somebody was sick, one brought a bottle of Lucozade to help the person's sugar levels recover and so on. As we evolved and developed, sports drinks came on the scene. They were great, as they contained carbohydrates and electrolytes, aided recovery and prolonged performance on the sports field, specifically endurance sports. Traditionally, society pushed it to its limit. So much so that now throughout all of the supermarkets and retailers, these products are particularly marketed to an age demographic that it probably does not suit and are easily accessible to that market. Therefore, there are not too many Senators who would not agree with the Bill in principle.

I wish to mention a small issue that my colleague Senator Maria Byrne mentioned. I refer to the additional work for retailers, particularly small retailers and corner shops, which have a staff of just one or two people. Recently, Senators had a discussion on the Protection of Retail Workers Bill.We had a very in-depth conversation about all of the additional work we were putting on those people and the fact that a lot of those people were minimum wage workers. With the introduction of this, we would be putting an additional onus on them to carry out many different checks. There is then the potential of fines hanging over their heads and the businesses' heads. That is the element I would like to explore further and I would be happy to go through that with the Senator.

I spoke to the Minister before she came in today and while this says 18 months, I do not believe we are looking at 18 months. I believe this Bill could be pushed through this Stage and Committee Stage a lot quicker than that. In principle, I support the Senators on it but I am happy to go with the Government's amendment at this stage.