asked the Minister for Justice if his attention has been drawn to the statement attributed to the Chairman of the Dublin Licensed Vintners' Association (name supplied) regarding the growth in teenage drinking; and, if so, if he will specify the steps he proposes to take in order to change the trend.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Teenage Drinking.
76.
I have replied to a number of Parliamentary Questions in recent times in the matter of teenage drinking, the most recent being on the 13th March last—Volume 279, columns 590 and 591. It is my belief —and I am not alone in this—that the problem of drinking by young persons is a social one related to the drinking habits of the community generally. I have pointed out that legislative changes or police action can at best have a marginal effect in dealing with this problem, and I have requested the co-operation of the community in bringing to the notice of the gardaí information concerning those who may be deliberately selling intoxicating liquor to underage persons.
These are inherent difficulties in enforcing a law which hinges on an age limit. A system of identity cards has been advocated by some, but not everybody may realise that in order to be effective its introduction would have to be linked with the creation of what is called an "absolute offence", namely, that of serving drink to a person under the legal age irrespective of whether or not the licensee or his agent genuinely believed, on any evidence short of an official identity card, that the person served was above that age. In that kind of situation, persons in an age group of 18 to possibly somewhere in the middle twenties would have to hold identity cards in order to be able to satisfy licensees that they could be served.
Has the Minister had any talks with the Licensed Vintners' Association who are doing good work in this field?
Yes. I talked to the Licensed Vintners' Association and to the Licensed Vintners Assistants' Union as well about this towards the end of the second half of last year. We discussed this problem. Since then I gave a lot of thought to identity cards but we would have to rule them out as being impractical and not meeting the problem. We agreed that it was essentially a matter for the community. The vintners were not at all happy that they should be blamed for teenage drinking. They were anxious to ensure that none of their members would break the law and they are anxious to ensure that any of their members who did break the law would be prosecuted for it. This means that people who have knowledge of this abuse must come to the gardaí with hard information. This is how this problem will be solved.
Is it an offence for an adult to purchase drink for a juvenile—an adult who buys a bottle of cider from a vintner and hands it over to a juvenile?
No, that is not an offence.
Would the Minister consider making it an offence? This might get to the root of it.
I would not like to say "Yes" or "No" to that off the top of my head. It could have implications which we do not see at the moment. I sympathise with the intention behind the Deputy's question, but if there are adults who are base enough to do such a thing, I do not think the law could deal with such people.
And there are.