I should like to say, at the outset, that the Government are fully alive to the problem posed by alcohol abuse.
There have been many indications of an increased level of consumption of intoxicating liquor — for example, in the figures published by the Revenue Commissioners on the quantities of spirits, beer and wine released for home consumption. These quantities doubled between 1969 and 1979. While it appears that the total sales of spirits and beer declined during the last year or two, overall spending on alcohol in this country is still at one of the highest levels, proportionately, in Europe.
From the mid-sixties, admissions to psychiatric hospitals for alcoholism and related illnesses showed a continuing increase, so that alcoholism is now the most common cause of admissions. While there was a small drop in the number of men admitted to psychiatric hospitals for such conditions in 1982, there was an increase in the number of women so admitted.
One of the other indices of alcohol abuse is the number of alcohol-related road accidents. These continue to constitute a disturbingly high proportion of the total number of such accidents.
When we turn from the overall picture to particular areas of alcohol abuse, the aspects which are most frequently mentioned are drinking by the under-aged, late night drinking and excessive consumption arising from easy availability in outlets such as off-licence shops and supermarkets.
It is very difficult to get precise statistics which would indicate the extent to which alcohol is being abused at particular times or by particular categories of the population. That there is excessive drinking by young people is, however, not merely a matter of common observation but is a view borne out by reports from concerned, responsible organisations such as the Irish National Council on Alcoholism, the Economic and Social Research Institute and the Medico-Social Research Board. This abuse occurs through the consumption of drink by young people in licensed premises during the ordinary permitted hours and at late night functions in licensed hotels and restaurants under the special exemption order provision, as well as drinking by young people at so-called "cider parties" of liquor obtained for them from licensed outlets by older teenagers or young adults.
As to the manner in which these abuses must be tackled, I think I should emphasise that we cannot hope to counteract them merely by restrictive measures such as might be enacted in amendments of the licensing code. What is in question, essentially, is the development of a proper attitude towards the use of alcohol. I would refer, in this connection, to initiatives such as the alcohol education programme prepared for second-level schools by the Health Education Bureau. The desirability of developing a more responsible attitude to drink, especially among young people, cannot be emphasised enough by concerned organisations and community groups.
That being said, it is accepted that the liquor licensing code has a very important part to play in counteracting alcohol abuse. This code has been under continuous review in my Department with a view to establishing the areas where amendment of the law would be appropriate. It is important to bear in mind, however, that any measures taken must be aimed at specific abuses and must not be such as would militate against the requirements of the average reasonable citizen.
The statutory provisions relating to the presence of young people in licensed premises must logically be among the first to be considered when examining the question of under-age drinking. These provisions are in the Children Act, 1908, as amended, and make it an offence for a licensee to allow a child to be in the bar of his licensed premises — a child for this purpose being a person under the age of 15 years. The aspects which arise for consideration include the question as to whether 15 years is an appropriate age-limit, the degree of responsibility to be placed on parents and whether the overall prohibition should, perhaps, be varied in relation to the time of the day or the location of the licensed premises.
Next comes the very important question of the provisions governing the purchase and consumption of intoxicating liquor by young persons. These provisions are contained in the Intoxicating Liquor Act of 1924 and make it an offence for a licensee "knowingly" to sell intoxicating liquor for consumption by a person under 18, though liquor may be sold to a person aged 15 to 18 if it is in a corked and sealed vessel of not less than one pint. There are considerable difficulties in securing convictions under this provision but there are many aspects to be borne in mind in contemplating an amendment of it. For one thing, in view of the earlier maturity of young people nowadays, it can be very difficult in many cases for the licensee to be able to say with any confidence that a particular young person is not aged 18 years or over. This raises the question of the introduction of a system of identity cards, and I understand that this has been done on a voluntary basis, with some success, in a number of areas. While the present provision creates an offence for the licensee, it is for consideration whether a statutory responsibility should also be placed on the under-aged person himself or herself where he or she purchases and consumes intoxicating liquor in a licensed premises, or on any person who procures the liquor for him or her, as well, perhaps, as on the parent or guardian of the young person.
It is frequently represented that it is not appropriate to have intoxicating liquor as freely available on the shelves of supermarkets as, say, cornflakes or soap powder. It has been suggested that restrictions should be placed on such outlets or, at least, that the sale of liquor in them should be separate from the sale of other commodities. In this area it is particularly difficult to establish the line between what is legitimate in meeting a reasonable public demand and what must be restricted in order to prevent abuse.
Next there is the question of the hours during which intoxicating liquor may be sold. In this connection, there has not been a great deal of pressure for changes in the ordinary permitted hours. There has, however, been a large volume of complaints about the abuse of the special exemption order provisions which is available to licensed hotels and restaurants. The numbers of such orders granted by the courts has increased considerably. Provision for the supply of a substantial meal is a prerequisite for the grant of most kinds of special exdemption orders, and there have been many complaints about what passes for a substantial meal on these occasions. When special exemption orders were last reviewed by the Oireachtas in 1960 and 1962, I think it could not have been envisaged that they would be granted on the present scale. Those provisions now merit very close scrutiny, so that any necessary steps may be taken to ensure that they are not abused.
Any new provisions in the licensing code must be such as can be enforced by the gardaí without undue difficulty. In this connection, I should say that it would probably be timely now to review the penalties for offences under the code, some of which have remained unchanged since they were originally provided in nineteenth century legislation.
As I said at the outset, I am convinced that legislative restrictions under the licensing code will not, of themselves, be sufficient to counteract drink abuse. The development of a public consciousness of the nature of this danger, and the inculcation of correct attitudes to drink, particularly among young people, is at least equally important. I would like to assure the House, however, that the Government are fully alive to the dangers inherent in a widespread abuse of intoxicating liquor and that they will take whatever steps are appropriate, including the amendment of the licensing code, to deal with this situation.
Mr. Browne:
A bhunáin bhuí,
'Sé mo léan do luí,
Is dó chnámha sínte,
Tar éis do ghrinn.
Sin dán a bhí ann fadó, fadó, agus is oth liom a rá go bhfuil a lán daoine tar éis bás a fháil toisc go raibh an iomarca le n-ól acu. Is oth liom a rá freisin go bhfuil an iomarca de na hógánaigh ar fud na tíre ag ól an iomarca faoi láthair.
How you stop this, I am not too sure. I know from experience that those of us who are involved in sport have a very responsible position. Many of us have seen how cups are being filled in different organisations and how teenagers and under-age drinkers are very willing to partake. It is something which frightens me. I had occasion some years ago when we won the minor championship to decide, with the help of my committee, that we would not use the cup anywhere afterwards and we kept it in the boot of the car. The following year in my absence the minors themselves managed to take off with it to the nearest pub, where they had a hooley.
We have condoned drinking on sporting occasions; it is the only way we seem to be able to celebrate a win in sport in Ireland; everybody gets plastered. It is a pity. I am not criticising any particular organisation, because I have spent my lifetime with one of them. People nearly forget what day of the week it is, even a week afterwards, because they have been celebrating so well. It affects sportsmen. The good sportsmen are not drinkers, and many a good sportsman has lost his skill, his interest and his contribution to his parish and to his team simply because he could not stop drinking. It may be thirsty work, but I think we could give an example and, in general, sporting organisations should give an example that it is not part and parcel of their code to drink to excess.
There are publicans who are excellent and who set standards that are an example to everybody and there are some publicans who unfortunately do not. On occasions when publicans refuse drink to teenagers because they are under-age, they get the comment "okay, we can go somewhere else." It is a pity that there is somewhere else they can go. While understanding it is often very difficult to decide what age a teenager is nowadays, at the same time I think what has been said by Senator Howard is true: if there is a doubt they should not get it. If one publican is doubtful I do not see why other publicans should not also be doubtful.
There is another aspect that leads to difficulty too. It is the question of sporting clubs having bars. Again I speak from experience because I am involved in a club. It is very difficult in a local scene where everybody is very friendly and some person is looking for drink. It takes a lot of courage for a member of the local community to say to somebody, "Well, you are under-age, you are definitely not getting drink here." It takes more courage to go over to an adult and say "You are buying drink for somebody who is under-age." Clubs have a responsibility to ensure that their facilities are not abused and that they are not setting young teenagers on the wrong course.
Clubs may serve a purpose. They may be a facility for older members and so on, but they can be abused. It is very easy to see that where you have a lot of young people generally involved in these sporting clubs. They come in after games and join the adults and it can lead to abuse.
Dance halls long ago were generally not filled up until reasonably late for some strange reason, but nowadays they are not being filled up because people have to wait until the pubs close first. It is a pathetic situation in a country like ours that young people cannot go into dance halls until the pubs have closed. If they have to rely on drink at that age to give them courage to go in to ask a nice girl to dance or the other way round, I think it is too bad for the future of our country.
It is very difficult to legislate to prevent the abuse of alcohol. It has to come from the example given by adults and by parents, by those in charge of public houses and clubs. It is something that has to be done by a lot of people together, and I do not expect that any Government of any political creed could possibly legislate effectively to stop the abuse of alcohol, because it seems to be endemic in this race that alcohol is part and parcel of our lifestyle.
I would hope that the Government would stop any loopholes that exist and make it more difficult to abuse the laws and the rules as they stand, but I still think that it is the example the teenagers are getting that will eventually lead them on the right track. Go raibh maith agat.
