Vol. 481 No. 3
78 Mr. McDowell asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the action, if any, she intends to take to restrict and regulate the marketing and sale of alcoholic lemonade; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15914/97]
As the Deputy may be aware, the Minister of State at my Department, with responsibility for Labour, Trade and Consumer Affairs, Deputy Tom Kitt announced his intention on 6 August to examine the need for tougher controls on the marketing, promotion and sale of sweet-tasting alcoholic drinks known generally as ‘alcopops'. In the meantime he has had consultations with various interests in the drinks industry, including brewers, distillers, publicans and proprietors of off licenses, in relation to the introduction of a proposed code of practice for these drinks. Such a code would aim to ensure that the alcoholic nature of alcopops is clearly brought to the attention of the consumer in a responsible manner and that alcopops produced or sold in Ireland are not promoted to or targeted at consumers under 18 years of age. The code will go on to stipulate detailed rules on product description, labelling, packaging, point of sale material and merchandising of alcopops. The terms of the proposed code are now being finalised by the industry, in consultation with my Department.
The Minister of State will announce details of the code within the next month.
