Last week I expressed my disappointment at the manner in which the Minister has introduced this Bill. While many sections of the Bill are welcome, I felt it important that the issue of alcohol consumption be put in a social context and I regret that the Minister has not done so. If we are to make a serious and genuine attempt to tackle the problems associated with the misuse of alcohol an analysis must be made of where society is coming from in its attitudes to alcohol and how to change some of the more negative attitudes.
There has been a traditional problem with alcohol, based partly on the prohibitionist attitudes of some which gave alcohol a mystique it should not have had. It would be in all our interests if alcohol was seen as a more normal aspect of life and something we could enjoy in moderation at different times of the day, particularly when people are having a meal. It should be seen simply as a part of our social life. Instead, for many historical reasons, alcohol is now at the very centre of Irish social life. Many people would complain that it is very difficult to have a social life that does not involve alcohol. One of the main reasons for this is the very powerful advertising of alcohol, on which Deputy McGahon spoke very well last week. It is very difficult to avoid being bombarded with the promotion of alcohol, whether it is on television – every advertising slot has a couple of advertisements for alcohol – or when one is driving around Dublin, where two in every three billboards advertise alcohol. It is constantly in our lives and exerts pressure on the young and vulnerable.
Alcohol is portrayed as a solution to problems and in that regard the current Guinness advertisement is particularly reprehensible. There is also a close association of alcohol with having a good time. That centrality of alcohol causes damage because young people feel they cannot function or socialise without consuming significant amounts of alcohol. A strong case has to be made for at least restricting the advertising of alcohol, if not banning it completely. It is certainly out of control and we must curb the powerful promotion of alcohol.
There is also a serious problem with sponsorship. It is virtually impossible to have a major musical or sporting event which does not involve one of the drinks companies. We must consider whether that is appropriate. Take as an example the sponsorship undertaken by Guinness. The hurling championship is now known as the Guinness hurling championship. This insidious and, in my view, effective form of advertising is pervasive.
We should question and examine the effects of this advertising in glamourising the use of alcohol and encouraging young people who attend or watch these events, whether musical or sporting, to begin drinking alcohol. It undoubtedly has a subconscious impact on them. There is a close association between alcohol and practically every activity in Irish society. I hope the Minister will comment on that; I regret that he has not done so to date. The Labour Party will pursue this matter further in terms of imposing strict curbs on the advertising and promotion of alcohol, particularly the sponsorship by drinks companies of events that are targeted at young people.
I question the approach taken in this Bill and whether the extension of opening hours by one hour is the right option. There is a major hang-up in this country, probably for traditional reasons, about the place of alcohol in society and the phenomenon of the last drinking hour before closing time. I admit I am a culprit in this regard. One goes down to the local pub for the last half hour or hour for a couple of drinks. That is the time when the atmosphere is best in the pub, when it is busy and the crowd is at its biggest. Many people come into the pub at that time.
What effect will the proposed opening hours have on that? The main effect will probably be that most people will go to their local pub an hour later. It will mean coming home and going to bed an hour later and having an hour less sleep. Most customers do not want that. People who go to their local for a social drink during the week or at the weekend do not necessarily want an extra hour's drinking. They are annoyed about its implications for work the next day.
One can argue that people have free choice. However, if one is in the pub two hours before closing time the atmosphere is not the same as an hour before closing time. I am not sure that extending opening hours by one hour will mean that people will have a more mature approach and decide to drink for a particular hour in the evening. The Minister should deregulate the hours and leave pubs to find the level to suit their local market. In that respect, we must distinguish between pubs in city centre locations or holiday resorts and those in residential areas. By and large, the latter are for people who fancy going to the pub for one or two pints at night before they go to bed. I believe there is no demand in those areas for pubs to be open longer.
The neighbours of pubs in residential areas do not want them opening later. The noise and trouble that can occur at closing time will simply be postponed for an hour or hour and a half. That is not in anybody's interest. The proposed new hours will pose a huge problem for the management of pubs in terms of recruiting staff. In the last couple of weeks I spoke to a number of publicans and barmen about this. They do not know what they will do. They already find it difficult to staff their premises because it is a tough job involving long hours. It is simply not on to have people working from 10.30 in the morning until after 1 o'clock the following morning, and that does not include cleaning up time. Publicans will be unable to staff pubs through the day and night and will be obliged to introduce two shifts each day. That will prove impossible financially for many of them. I question the advisability of dealing with opening hours in this manner. A distinction should have been made between pubs in commercial areas, city centres and holiday resorts and pubs in residential areas.
What is the current status of the national alcohol policy? We have heard little about it in the last three years. Much work went into developing the policy and it contained many worthy aspirations. Little has been said about it by the Ministers who have responsibility for it. It is time to revisit the policy and account for the progress or otherwise in implementing its recommendations. Where necessary, it should be updated. There is a need for that as a counterbalance to the extension of opening hours.
The proposed opening hours are exceptionally confusing and convoluted. A little card will have to be drafted which people will have to carry with them to help them remember the opening hours. There are different hours for Sundays, Wednesdays, Fridays and the nights before bank holidays. It is extremely complicated. Why did the Minister not seek to streamline the opening hours to assist the consumer? What is the reason for making a distinction between different days of the week?
I appeal to the Minister to look again at the provision of the extra opening hour, particularly in the context of pubs in residential areas. There is no demand for it from customers, publicans, barmen or neighbours of pubs. I believe it will prove problematic in its implementation.
I welcome the provision of a uniform time of 7.30 a.m. for on-licence mixed trading premises and the fact that they can sell alcohol from 8 a.m. It is a good development. However, what is the position of a mixed trading premises selling alcohol on a Sunday morning? There are many such premises which are anxious to open early on Sunday morning to sell the newspapers as well as wine. It is perfectly sensible to allow people who are buying their newspapers on Sunday to buy a bottle of wine for their lunch. It is crazy that these shops cannot sell wine until 12.30 p.m. on Sundays. How are shopkeepers to organise their shops if on Sundays they are obliged to cover up or hide the alcohol in their premises until a certain time? I sought the advice of some gardaí on this but they do not know what the position will be in relation to the enforcement of that section.
It is proposed to allow restaurants which sell wine to also sell beer. That is a welcome and sensible development. A problem arises, however, in that there is no equal treatment of shops licensed to sell wine. Why has the provision permitting restaurants to sell beer not been extended to these shops? Why are they not permitted to sell beer? This issue will be contested strongly in the courts. It was brought to Members' attention by a number of people in the industry. Deputy Healy-Rae will have a good deal to say about it given the position of his son, Michael Healy-Rae, who would consider himself disadvantaged in this regard. Has the Attorney General given an opinion on this provision and whether it is anti-competitive? I look forward to hearing the Minister's views in this regard.
I will devote the rest of my time to the issue of under age drinking. The Minister has failed to grasp the seriousness of this problem. It affects all parts of the country. It was initially a social problem in urban areas but it now seems that every constituency is affected by the phenomenon of young people drinking. This is not just young people having a couple of beers or trying a flagon of cider, it is young people going out to get drunk as their main pastime. Is the Minister examining this problem or is any research being done in the Department to discover why this is the case?
I am a member of two drugs task forces in my constituency and the general view now is that the problem of under age drinking is surpassing the drugs problem in local communities. There is the phenomenon of children from 11 or 12 years of age going out several nights a week and taking red bull and vodka, which seems to be the drink of choice, and drinking until they are literally out of their heads drunk. This is very often followed with an ecstasy tablet. It is a massive indictment of society that young people are choosing to do this. We must investigate why they want to escape reality and need such a massive buzz. To some extent, this is the down side of the Celtic tiger, but it also indicates a failure on the part of the authorities to adequately protect children. Very often they need to be protected from themselves. A down side of the Celtic tiger is that so many young teenagers are working. What protection is there for them? No one under 18 years of age is supposed to work after 10 p.m., yet many young people under the age of 18 work as lounge girls and lounge boys in pubs at night. The situation is bad now but I am concerned that it will be exacerbated as a result of the new opening hours. I urge the Minister to ensure there is a counterbalancing measure put in place, that is, more inspectors from the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt's, Department to carry out regular inspections, because the authorities have been very remiss in this regard.
The growth in under age drinking is resulting in shocking statistics in absenteeism from school. I do not know if the Minister is aware of how bad this problem is. I recently spoke to school principals in my constituency and I was amazed to discover that there is an absentee rate of between 30% and 35% every Monday across a number of schools in the area. It is a regular occurrence that one-third of teenagers do not attend school on Monday morning because of, by and large, the effects of week-end drinking. First, this is a result of their working late into the night in pubs and, second, they have all this additional money in their pockets and they can think of nothing better to do in many cases than spend it on drink. The authorities have, by and large, turned a blind eye to date to this problem which needs urgent attention. There is a serious lack of enforcement of the existing laws and I welcome the strengthening of the provisions under the new legislation.
Why has the Minister not promoted the national age card? That should have been promoted strongly. Ideally most young people should be given these cards before the new legislation is enacted and then the Minister could come down hard on the publicans. Given that the new legislation is imminent, why has the Minister not yet launched and promoted the national age card? I ask him to do so as soon as possible so that people can prepare for the enactment of the new legislation.
Will the Minister do something about raising awareness among parents regarding their responsibilities and the dangers for their children of widespread alcohol abuse? Many parents have been remiss in this regard but they need the support of the State in taking a firm stand with their young people. It is very difficult for parents to take a firm stand if their children can point to their neighbours who are going to the local pub, being served under age without any great difficulty and working in local pubs until 12.30 a.m. and 1 a.m. Therefore, why should parents try to swim against the tide, so to speak? Many parents do so bravely and successfully but it is very difficult for them. They need the support of the State in helping to protect their children which the State has not given them up to now.
Will the Minister consider an amendment I will table? This is an effort to clamp down more effectively on publicans who sell drink to under age people for drinking in public. Off-licences should be required to print the name of the shop on their bags. That would be of great assistance to the Garda in tracing from where drink sold to gangs of young people emanated. Drink is sold to gangs of young people who consume it on green spaces and in many cases cause absolute havoc in their local community. Many areas, particularly areas with elderly populations, are simply under siege from gangs of drinking youths. This is a nightly nightmare for many people in my constituency and throughout the country. The proposal was put to me by a number of gardaí that off-licences should be obliged to display the name of their shop on bags and this would assist the authorities in tracing the source of much of the alcohol consumed on the street.
There is also a need to introduce draft by-laws for local authorities to cover drinking in public places. This has been dealt with in an ad hoc basis in recent years and there have been legal difficulties with local authorities. Some direction should come from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and I am aware that many local authorities would welcome draft by-laws.
On our attitude as a society to alcohol and the effect it is having on young people, the question must be raised about the place of alcohol in third level colleges. We are inclined to think that alcohol abuse is a phenomenon which is common among working class children. This is not the case. The problem crosses all classes and one would need to have just a cursory knowledge of social activities within third level colleges to know that the drinks industry sponsors heavily every activity and society in our universities. This is wrong and should be prohibited. I ask the Minister to acquaint himself with the issue. During freshers' week in the universities every society invites the new students, many of whom are just 16 and 17 years of age, to come along to drinks which are available in abundance and provided free of charge by the drinks industry. This is an appalling message to be sending to young people in their first few days in university. This resembles the way in which the banks target third level students. The drinks industry targets third level students on the basis that if they can get them drinking early, whether Guinness, Budweiser or whatever, they will stick with them for life. Sending out the message that we are incapable of enjoying ourselves without large amounts of alcohol being involved is causing great damage to young people. I ask the Minister to pay attention to this issue.
I reiterate my support for the new measures being introduced in relation to breaches of the legislation by publicans selling alcohol to under age people. The Minister should not water down this proposal. We need a strong deterrent because attitudes to young people and what is acceptable have become very lax. For too long there has been very little difficulty for anyone over the age of 14 or 15 being served in a pub or off-licence. We need to clamp down and change this entire culture so that publicans and owners of off-licences will be terrified of the consequences of selling alcohol to young people. The Minister has got the measures right and I appeal to him not to give way to pressure.
I am concerned about the measure allowing young people to work in pubs as lounge boys and lounge girls. Will he come back with specific answers on how this tallies with the Protection of Young Persons Act? I also ask the Minister to give consideration to the establishment of a special Garda unit to tackle the problem of under age drinking and to ensure strict enforcement of the new laws. This social problem is of such magnitude that a special unit is necessary to examine it, look at trends and ensure strict enforcement of the legislation across all divisions.
I recognise the submission made by the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association which includes a number of very worthwhile proposals. I was asked to make reference to the submission by the leader of our parliamentary party, Deputy Penrose, who is a strong supporter of the association. It might be said that the PTAA is of another time, but it has adapted very well to modern circumstances and is now a strong lobbying voice counteracting the pressure and muscle of the drinks industry. It is important to recognise that the board of the PTAA expressed serious concern about the possible negative effects of extending the hours of drinking in pubs, hotels and clubs and suggested changes should be permitted on a trial basis during which an impact study should be carried out measuring the personal, medical, domestic, economic and social effects of such extensions. I earnestly ask the Minister to agree to this proposal as this is a new departure and there is a serious problem. The proposals by the Minister to extend opening hours could quite conceivably exacerbate the problem of alcohol abuse. For that reason I ask the Minister to put in place systems to monitor the impact of the new opening hours. I know the Minister is establishing a commission and intends returning to this.
I strongly support the sound proposal by the PTAA that health warnings be put on bottles and cans containing alcoholic drinks. Health warnings on cigarette packs made people stop and think and we should do the same in relation to alcohol, which is potentially just as damaging.
I fully endorse the proposal made by the PTAA that the drinks industry and those licensed to sell alcoholic liquor should take their proportionate responsibility for the serious personal, domestic and social consequences of drinking to excess. Too often we look at this from an economic point of view and see the great success with plenty of jobs, but behind that there is a very sad and harrowing story about the effect drink is having on many lives and families. I am not satisfied the Minister has struck a sufficient balance between both sides of the argument. Most importantly, he did not indicate in his opening remarks that he has an appreciation of the scale and reality of the current problem of under-age drinking. Many counter-balancing measures are required to put the Bill in context and to ensure it does not further exacerbate the problem. I look forward to Committee Stage when we will table a number of amendments.
