As Senator Lennon who concluded is not here I am calling on Senator Hillery.
Alcohol Abuse: Motion (Resumed).
Debate resumed on the following motion:
That Seanad Éireann, noting the concern that has been expressed in many quarters at the extent of alcohol abuse, particularly by young people, calls on the Government to take whatever action is necessary to help to counteract this abuse.
—(Senator A. O'Brien.)
An Leas-Chathaoirleach
In the course of this brief contribution I will make a number of suggestions which could help to rectify the worrying situation in relation to alcohol abuse, in particular amongst the young. Quite clearly alcohol abuse is a very serious problem in this country. Many lives have been wrecked, families put in turmoil, and placed in dire financial circumstances and careers and opportunities have been wasted through alcohol abuse. More specifically alcohol abuse amongst the young and under age is a source of special concern in our society today.
I want to advance six specific suggestions for consideration in tackling this problem. Firstly, the case can be made for providing a health warning like that used on cigarette packets, to be displayed when advertising intoxicating liquor, for example, on television, radio, in the newspapers and in places where intoxicating liquor is sold by retail outlets. Secondly — and this idea has been raised before but does not appear to have met with any widespread success — a requirement to provide proof of age of persons found with intoxicating liquor in public places. What I have in mind here is the compulsory use of identification cards. There are those who argue that, in a democracy like ours, this constitutes much too rigid a control. Frankly, I do not go along with that view; identification cards are commonplace in several countries, including the United States and several European countries where they form part and parcel of everyday life.
My third suggestion is that people should be encouraged to drink ancillary only to other social activities. This might be tackled through tighter controls on the granting of extensions for drinking after normal hours. Such extensions should be granted only where a substantial meal is being provided. Fourthly, there is no substitute for the enforcement of the existing law. It is difficult to enforce and implement but Garda and public house staff alike should have a very specific obligation to apply the law that is there. Fifthly, there seems to be a compelling case to update the law and penalties for offences relating to the control of access by young people to intoxicating liquor. Furthermore, the curious situation obtains at present in which a person who serves drink which is consumed by an under-age person leads to both being liable to a penalty. But if we assume for a moment that an adult buys drink at a bar for somebody who is under age, that person who purchases the drink is not liable under existing law. Clearly that is an anomaly that needs to be corrected. My sixth and final suggestion is that education has a most important role to play in this regard. If adequate funds are provided for the Health Education Bureau, the consequences of alcohol abuse can be spelled out to young people particularly those at second level in the educational system. After all, the old adage holds particularly true in this case — prevention is better than cure.
I am glad the Seanad is debating this motion which calls on the Government to take whatever action is necessary to help counteract the abuse of alcohol by young people. It is very timely that we should consider this matter because our country is being ravaged by the abuse of alcohol not merely by young people but by people generally. That is my concern in speaking here today. If we examine what is happening we see the damage being done to our work places by absenteeism, which is brought about frequently due to abuse and over indulgence of alcohol. We see the resultant mess in many broken families which has been brought about by this abuse. We see broken businesses and neglected farms, situations which arise frequently due to the abuse of alcohol. Above all, all of us are aware of the many broken characters whose situation is in great measure due to the abuse of alcohol.
What is frightening particularly about all of this is that in many cases young people are involved. Many people in their late twenties and early thirties have been ravaged beyond redemption by the abuse of alcohol. All the more frightening is the fact that our legislators down through the years have not been really concerned, that they have sat back and not taken steps to ensure that something be done to prevent further abuse. If one compares the situation with regard to the abuse of alcohol with the situation in the area of drug abuse or the area of tobacco abuse, one can find parallels where the State and the Legislature have stepped in and have taken steps. Yet in this one area, perhaps due to the substantial vested interest or due to the substantial pressure groups or perhaps due to other reasons, the State so far has not taken adequate steps to deal with the problem. That is something I find extremely distressing.
It is all the more distressing when one watches television and sees night after night alcohol being advertised in a manner which makes its consumption very attractive to young people. Many young people feel that unless they are taking a drink they are not achieving any sense of maturity. I do not want my remarks to sound anti-alcohol but the way in which the sale and consumption of alcohol are advertised in our media certainly leads many young people unwittingly along the road where within a short time they will be abusing alcohol. The time has come when we must examine this area very carefully. There are many substantial business and commercial interests who would differ with that point of view but the type of alcohol sale and consumption advertising must be looked at because an amount of damage is being done in that way. In the same way as we called stop in relation to tobacco advertising and in the same way that we guard people against the potential dangers which exist in that area, steps must be taken with regard to alcohol.
I was interested in the points made by Senator Hillery. I agree with some of them but I disagree totally with others. He mentioned, as I would also like to mention, the area of criminal law. Many people who have been calling for reform in this area have asked for amendments in the criminal law. In that regard, I would differ from the majority. One call we frequently have is that the word "knowingly" should be removed from that area of our law which provides that a publican can only be successfully prosecuted if he is proven to have knowingly sold alcohol to a young person. I agree that that word should be removed from the Statute Book because the manner in which alcohol is sold in the eighties is totally different from the manner in which it was sold in the twenties when that statutory provision was enacted. In the twenties we had many small owner-occupied public houses where the owners seldom employed anybody else, where they knew the customers intimately and where the clientele of a public house at any one time was small enough to allow the licensed publican to maintain everybody under his supervision and control. The situation in the eighties is totally different. The outlets for the sale of intoxicating liquor are frequently vast premises where in many cases the licensee does not know the people who come to his premises and where frequently the licensee on any one occasion may employ eight, ten or 12 people to assist him in the running of his business. In those circumstances and bearing in mind the kind of society we have, it is totally ridiculous to place that kind of onus on the licensee. There are measures available whereby any member of the public can object to the renewal of a licence if he or she is of the belief that a licensed premises is being improperly managed. I am not suggesting that that should be removed but I am suggesting that the criminal law should not be changed to provide an added onus on the publican in existing circumstances. I agree with a suggestion made by Senator Hillery and one which I have made public recently and for which I have been rebuked by organisations in my own county. That is that the onus should be placed increasingly on the young person and on the parents of the young person. Our young people are very willing to accept responsibility in this area. Any person who is under the age of 18 and who goes into a licensed premises and purchases or consumes intoxicating liquor on that premises should be liable to the rigours of the criminal law. In the same way any young person who drives a motor vehicle without insurance is liable to the rigours of the criminal law and can be prosecuted for the offence. I cannot see why the situation should be any different for a young person who buys or consumes intoxicating liquor on a licensed premises.
The area of parental responsibility must be examined. Any parent whose child breaches the criminal law in this regard should also be summoned to court. A similar procedure already exists within the practice of our legal system whereby a parent may be summoned to court if his or her child is found, for instance, driving a motor car without insurance. The type of responsibility that is necessary here must not be seen altogether as being the responsibility of the publican. It must be seen as the responsibility of the young person and the responsibility of the parent. I believe that the young people of this country are prepared to accept that kind of responsibility.
This brings me to the question of the identity card. The suggestion which is being peddled in my own county by an organisation calling themselves the Mayo identity card committee is to my mind the most foolish and most ridiculous suggestion ever made. If any young person wishes to go into a licensed premises and to order a pint or a gin and tonic or whatever, he will hardly produce an identity card to indicate that he is under 18. It is ridiculous to expect a young person to produce an identity card to admit that he is not entitled to get what he has asked for. For that reason I regard this as a system which cannot and does not work. Indeed, the Mayo identity card committee in some of their recent public utterances have admitted that it does not work. In Mayo in the last three years 9,000 such identity cards were issued but the committee responsible publicly admitted that half of the 15 to 17 age group were consuming intoxicating liquor regularly. The identity card system should be ruled out and I urge the Minister not to consider it in any circumstances. It is a most dangerous system. What we are really talking about is issuing an identity card for the over 18s or asking every citizen to carry an identity card. In a short time the big computer in Dublin would be able to identify all citizens by number. Ultimately, we would have a draconian situation such as was experienced under totalitarian regimes in the thirties.
Another point that has given rise to much public comment in recent times is the question of special exemption orders. When referring to abuses in this area it is easy to condemn such orders but we must realise that most special exemption orders are granted where a substantial meal is served. A condition for granting a special exemption order under normal circumstances is that a substantial meal be served and a dance held on the premises. The meal must be available for all people on the premises. One exception is a day of special festivity, and that is good. I do not see any necessity to amend the legislation dealing with special exemptions but consideration should be given to prohibiting the granting of such orders on Monday mornings. It is not possible to get a special exemption on Sunday night but they are granted from midnight until 1.30 a.m. Such orders should be prohibited because people should not be encouraged to drink into the early hours of a working day. Most people work on a Monday and legislation should encourage them to get to work on time.
The points I have dealt with have been raised frequently in recent weeks. They could help to alleviate the serious problem referred to in the motion. In a recent debate on the granting of licensing facilities to the National Concert Hall I mentioned that since the foundation of the State two special commissions met to reform our intoxicating liquor laws but their recommendations were not, in the main, acted on. The Minister of State, Deputy Fennell, has special responsibility for law reform and I welcome her to the House in that capacity. I hope the suggestions I have made will be considered by her when she is preparing legislation for the overall reform of the licensing laws.
Thosaigh an Seanadóir de Brún le sean dán "An Bunán Buí", agus tosnóidh mise le sean amhrán, "Preab San Ól". Seo é an véarsa:
Má's tiarna tíre nó diúc nó rí thú,
Ní cuirfear pinghin leat 'stú 'g'ul faoin bhfód,
Mar sin's dá bhrígh sin níl beart níos críona
Ná bheith go síorraí 'cur preab san ól.
That stanza was translated by the late Brendan Behan in his poem, "Trust in Drink," as follows:
Be you Cook's son, Earl's son or Duke's son,
Not one penny goes past the tombstone's brink,
So join the chorus, we've life before us
When we put our one true trust in drink
That outlines the attitude of society to drink down the years.
In the July-August issue of Books Ireland the following was stated:
The average Irish family spends £400 on alcohol, £300 on tobacco, £120 on sweets and £36 on schoolbooks in a year, says the Educational Book Publishers' Association.
Alcohol has been consumed for thousands of years and it would be a dull world without it. It is consumed in a proper manner by many people but we are concerned solely with the abuse of it. The motion is timely having regard to the time of the year and the many reports available in regard to the excessive consumption of alcohol, particularly by young people. As legislators we have a major responsibility in this area. It was ironic that the motion was introduced a short time after the House had passed the Bill regarding the issuing of a licence for the National Concert Hall.
Alcohol, according to school books and dictionaries I consulted, is derived from the word "poison". Perhaps a case could be made for displaying a notice in premises where drink is sold stating, like in the case of cigarettes, that drink can damage one's health. Our history shows that by and large there was no control here over the consumption of drink. I should like to quote the following from the book, The Irish in Britain by Kevin O'Connor:
Alcohol and Alcoholism
In 1966, when Irish born formed 3 per cent of the population of London, a study of London's ‘Skid Row' showed that the Irish formed 37 per cent of the sample studied. (Tabulated from the Lancet, 29 January 1966.) And the report of the Council for Social Welfare, 1970, was that Catholics in Britain have a higher proportion of alcoholics than any other religious denomination.
In the light of the above, it is almost facile to suggest that any discussion of alcoholism and the Irish should proceed from the acknowledgment that alcoholic drink permeates all levels of Irish life. Yet it is a necessary premise from which to proceed, for it explains the failure to contain the problem, and the reluctance to tackle a ruinous disease. The fact is that alcohol is enshrined in Irish life, and has been for centuries. In rhyme and rann, song and story, drink has become something of a sanctified Irish institution, by turns cursed and praised but never, in active consumption, ignored.
We have been told by medical men that alcohol does not solve any problems but that it adds many. I should like to refer to the road safety slogan during Christmas which has been criticised on various occasions, "Two Will Do". I do not like to be critical, but I do not think it is the third drink that is the problem, which seems to be implied in that slogan. It is not even the second drink. Most people who deal with this problem agree that the problem drink is the first one. This should be emphasised more.
Earlier speakers referred to advertising. A little booklet published by the North Western Health Board dealt with alcohol abuse and strategy for prevention. It covers many of those points and refers specifically to advertising. In its recommendations the booklet states that advertising of alcoholic beverages on RTE should be stopped and that a code of advertising practice should be established for all the media. It also stated that advertising of alcoholic drinks should not be linked to sexual attraction or physical prowess, either by word or illustration. I cannot help but think of the advertisement involving Sally O'Brien and the way she might look at you. It is bad to think that such an advertisement would lead to increased consumption of alcoholic drink.
Example is very important in this matter. Many people give good example: they take drink without doing so to excess. I would not be too critical of public houses in this matter, particularly family businesses which have been referred to on many occasions. They conduct their businesses in an exemplary fashion, but businesses that have been set up to make quick profits have not been so careful, and I would be particularly wary in regard to discos. In many instances they are well supervised, but I have reason to know that drinking to excess takes place on occasions leading to conduct which is unfortunate. I have passed by such places on mornings after discos and on the footpaths I have seen evidence of people having been sick; I have seen blood on occasions, and I am apprehensive in this respect.
Parents can do an enormous amount of good in regard to their children, again by example, and we should pay tribute to various bodies such as the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association, the Church of Ireland Temperance Society and other groups such as St. Vincent de Paul, the Samaritans, and others like the Irish National Council on Alcoholism, Alcoholics Anonymous and the Salvation Army.
I would refer briefly to the Confirmation pledge which perhaps many people nowadays would think outdated. To my mind that pledge has played an important role and I see no reason why it cannot do so in the future with regard to teaching youngsters to refrain from alcoholic drink — that they can enjoy themselves without it; that the partaking of it on many occasions leads to the opposite to enjoyment.
Education is most important and we should pay a tribute to our teachers, both lay and religious, and to the Minister for Health who, with the Health Education Bureau, the health boards and community care staff involved in the treatment of alcoholism, plus general medical practitioners, public health nurses and the community welfare officers, has played a great part. The Health Education Bureau have published many leaflets, articles and books on the subject. They are all worth while reading, they are available free of charge and perhaps an effort should be made to make them more easily available on a wider scale. I should like briefly to refer to a recent report of The Medico-Social Research Board, the Annual Report for 1982. I shall quote a paragraph from it:
Alcoholism and alcoholic psychosis account for more admissions to psychiatric hospitals in Ireland than any other diagnostic category and account for over a quarter of all admissions. In addition to its social consequences, heavy alcohol consumption can lead to many medical problems. Alcohol causes diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver, cancer of the larynx and cancer of the oesophagus. Alcohol may damage other body tissues leading to disease of the heart, muscles, nerves or stomach and contributes to mortality from road traffic accidents and suicide.
I should like to have had time to refer to many other articles. In conclusion I should like to say that the text available from the Health Education Bureau called Living and Choosing, which is for schools and covers a four-year course, contains a wealth of information for young people. An effort should be made to ensure that it is used in all schools in the country because it teaches the subject in a very comprehensive way starting from the simplest objectives.
I am glad to have the opportunity to add my few words at what is almost the conclusion of this debate on a very important motion for the health and well-being of Irish society in general and a matter of extreme gravity and importance in relation to the health and wellbeing of our young people. There is a danger in the plethora of information and anxiety expressed in relation to drug abuse that what is the accepted Irish drug, alcohol and its effects on our people might be overlooked. It is time to have a debate on alcohol in view of the fact that the Minister for Justice is examining the legislation and that there is a prospect of an overhaul of it. I am sure that the comments which Senators make and the consideration they have given to this area in preparation for this debate will be taken cognisance of. I hope we will be able to have an input into the formation of whatever reform in the legislation is forthcoming. I know from my membership of a local authority and from the General Council of County Councils that this whole area of reform in our licensing laws comes up for discussion frequently and that the type of suggestions made during this debate have also been made in these other forums.
It is significant that there is a mounting body of concern being made manifest from the public at large and that this is finding its voice in this House. I believe this debate can be of very great value to the Minister. It will highlight this whole area, which we have allowed to become of secondary importance in view of our quite understandable concern about drug abuse which is novel in the Irish context. We talk about the abuse of cannabis and heroin which has afflicted our society, particularly our urban centres in recent times. Simple observation in dancehalls, clubs and licensed premises, particularly at festivals, indicates a high prevalence of drinking by young people under the age of 18. Some of the more unpleasant manifestations of this referred to by the last speaker will not have escaped the notice of even the most casual observer. It is certainly a cause of great concern. It concerns us as legislators and those of us who are parents have a particular concern in this area because we are older and, one hopes, somewhat wiser and are aware of the sad results of alcohol abuse.
The Irish National Council on Alcoholism, a very esteemed body who have compiled a great deal of research in this area, have received numerous indications from parents, teachers, clergy, youth leaders and even from young people of a disturbingly high prevalence of immoderate drinking by school pupils. This is of relatively recent origin. When I attended my convent school there was no question of pupils having alcohol. If you wanted to foregather in a place outside a school, about the most outrageous place you could congregate in was a coffee bar and you would spin out your cup of coffee there for hours. You felt quite daring at being in such a place and there was no question of going into a pub.
I believe the same was true when I was at university in the early sixties, but we are light years from that scenario now. We must recognise that fact and accept it rather than looking over the shoulder longingly and through rose tinted glasses at what was, but try to cope with the situation as it is and have sensible attitudes towards it rather than the prospect of draconian legislation, a holier than thou or pious attitude towards alcohol, which is one of the good things of life if treated in moderation.
Teachers have expressed concern about this prevalence of teenage and school age drinking. They have said it is not an infrequent occurrence to find pupils reporting for school suffering from the after-effects of a drinking bout. Pupils have been known to report to their family doctors and their school matrons episodes of alcoholic amnesia, but they do not know this is what it is. They suffer from blackouts which even in the best cases indicate an acute level of intoxication and in the worst cases could be a sign of alcoholism in the course of development. Any young person who has been out with the lads at weekends and finds himself subject to blackouts in the early part of the following week should be severely concerned and so should any parents suspecting such a thing because it could be the signs of insipient alcoholism.
The problem is the relative ease with which alcohol can be procured for consumption on licensed premises by young people under the legal age. This has been demonstrated in a number of surveys which have been organised by youth clubs in provincial towns when boys of 14 and 15 years were served alcohol in licensed premises which they visited in the towns concerned. Indeed, those surveys showed that it was exceptional for those youngsters to be queried about their age in the licensed premises. I do not mean by this to reflect badly on publicans. As the grand-daughter of a Cavan publican it would ill behove me to cast a reflection on publicans. They have a severe problem in this regard because very often over 14 and 15 year old boys and girls with good nourishment and a better attitude towards health look far older than they are. Publicans often do not realise that they are so much below the legal age limit and they are served alcohol.
The Vintners Association have made a tacit admission that under-age drinking is a national problem and as a responsible body they are concerned about this and, I am sure, would want to see legislation drafted which would let them off the hook and indicate very clearly to youngsters under 18 years that it is not possible for them to have alcohol. It is clear that the present level of law enforcement is not a valid indicator of the prevalence of under-age drinking. I have some statistics for 1977 which say that there were 63 prosecutions for serving drink to people under the legal age. Convictions were secured in 37 cases. I did not manage to get up-to-date statistics but I imagine that the number of convictions has grown as well as the problem. The futility of bringing prosecutions in many cases arises because of the fact that the prosecution must prove that the vendor knowingly supplied drink to people under the legal age. The word "knowingly" appears to be the kernel of that particular section of the Act. The Mayo identity card committee who have been vigorous in their wish to do something about this have requested that when the legislation is being reviewed the word "knowingly" be deleted from the Act and not substituted by any other word which can prove to be a legal technicality when a prosecution is before the courts.
The position in regard to off-licence premises is even more disturbing. It is a common occurrence in many inner city urban areas to see cider parties of pre-teenage and early teenage children taking place quite happily in the corner of some waste ground. This is most disturbing and leads to further injury to these young people as these drinking sessions have been known to cause havoc both to property and to the young people themselves. The law as it stands means that persons as young as 15 years of age may legally purchase alcohol which may later be consumed off the premises provided the quantity is one pint and its container is corked and sealed. This needs to be examined and I hope that in the reform of the legislation which is promised this area is given very close attention because it is open to grave abuse. The easy availability of alcohol to young people who are neither physically nor emotionally mature to handle it inevitably leads to problems and to a hard prevalence of alcoholism in the age groups concerned.
Last night I watched "The Women's Programme" on RTE 1 which is an excellent programme. They decided to highlight teenage pregnancies, "children having children" was the phrase used on the programme. One child of 13 years of age was interviewed very sensitively by Marian Finucane, the presenter of the programme, who probed gently into the background and factors which caused her to become pregnant and deliver a baby at 13 years of age. Interestingly and hardly surprisingly alcohol was at the root of this girl's difficulties. Drugs played a part as well. It is well known that alcohol lowers the level of inhibition. Given the change in our value system and the increase in promiscuity, it is hardly surprising that teenage pregnancies result from teenage drinking. As night follows day it is inevitable and it is another important reason why this area should be closely examined and remedial action brought forward without undue delay.
In assessing the alcoholic casualties from teenage drinking it should be appreciated that alcoholism rarely develops overnight. In the case of many young people who drink in their teens alcoholism is not diagnosed until the early twenties when they seek treatment. Vigilance is everything — vigilance from parents, teachers, youth club leaders and leaders in organisations where young people congregate and on the part of all who work in licensed premises. I appeal to them to be extra careful in this regard and to be fearless in challenging and questioning a person if they suspect that the person seeking alcohol at the counter is under-age. The parents and friends of the young person will thank responsible adults who show vigilance, care and compassion in this area. I look forward to seeing a review of the legislation and hope my contribution will be helpful in that regard.
I gladly welcome the opportunity to support the motion. If this debate does nothing else but speed up legislation to update the laws governing the sale of intoxicating liquor it will have done a good day's work. If the Dáil is slow in bringing this legislation forward or if legislation is ready to be introduced but they are thinking of putting in on the shelf, I appeal to the Minister to bring it in here and we will discuss it.
There are many problems in relation to the trade as it exists. As Senator Bulbulia said, the vintners federation are very concerned. As one who has been involved in the trade for many years, I can say that publicans are very concerned that the good name of the business person and family publican should be linked with the problem of teenage drinking and that we are saddled with part of the blame for it. In most cases a publican is not to blame at all. The good name of the trade on which the economy depends would be enhanced if legislation were introduced to update the existing law.
The question as to where the problem arose must be answered. Nobody can answer that question specifically. We all have our own ideas. I believe it was because young people have more money to spend and have a greater opportunity to spend it. How did the opportunity arise? It arose because clubs, organisations, political parties et cetera saw a golden opportunity while they were having a function to apply for extensions and sell intoxicating liquor. We all know in recent years that licences for late night drinking were granted. Money was made out of these extensions. The effect has rebounded on the family publican. That is the person I am here to protect.
Under the law as it stands, the onus is on the publican to clear his premises at a said time and to determine the suitability and age of the person who wants to buy liquor. The heavy hand of the law rests on the shoulder of the family publican and people feel that they themselves have no responsibility in the matter. Collective responsibility is the key to the solution. I hope that when the new legislation is introduced we will have the common sense to see that the responsibility must be removed from the shoulders of the publican and spread across the board. His customers seem to come and go as they like whilst the publican has to shout to clear his premises at night. The problems facing the family publican are enormous. I hope that the type of discussion we have had this evening here will help to open up the minds and the thinking of many people in this House regarding the problems related to drinking and drugs. Many people blame the publican for the incidence of drug and alcohol abuse especially in young people. The publican did not create the problem. When the family publican handled the drink industry here we had not the problems that exist today.
I thank the Minister for her attention and I hope she will bear in mind the remarks I have made. The legislation needs to be reviewed very urgently. The Vintners Federation of Ireland are concerned about the abuse of alcohol and they have made submissions to the Minister on many aspects of the trade. Certainly they will look forward to changes in the legislation. People involved in small family businesses throughout the country will welcome changes that they feel are very necessary for the good of the trade itself. Many of the people involved in the trade have families of their own and they do not want to see them fall into the pit of under-age drinking.
When we consider alcohol abuse, particularly among young people, it is important to establish that alcoholism is drug abuse. We seem to define abuse across the board on a scale ranging from: "Oh, that is fairly all right, that is not too bad" to "That is completely out altogether". Let us examine this briefly. A classic example of this is the way we treat cigarette smoking which to my mind is also drug abuse. It is well known that cigarette smoking kills people, but it is tolerated with the blasé expression, "Ah, well, it will take years to do so". Therefore, cigarette smoking falls into the category of not too bad, in other words it is tolerable. Also we have widespread acceptance of drug abuse under prescription, but that is tolerable abuse, it is acceptable.
From an early age alcohol is also seen as an acceptable abuse. Children are brought gaily into the arena of alcohol at weddings and funerals, after Sunday Mass, at cabarets, and indeed after the weekly Saturday shopping trip children are brought into pubs by their parents. In these areas where alcohol is consumed they see people whom they admire, their priests, teachers, parents, uncles and so on. This only leads to the conclusion that alcohol is part, the main part, of pleasurable social activity. To draw an analogy, six times as many children of parents who smoke will themselves be smokers as opposed to those whose parents do not smoke. Therefore, the first reason for alcohol abuse is the total lack of understanding and underestimation of the dangers inherent in that activity.
Only this week we have been quoted a figure of 1,000 babies born to teenage children. Recently I had a discussion with a social worker who works in this area and she estimates that at least two-thirds of these pregnancies occur in alcohol-related conditions. The sad truth is that the conditions to which these teenagers are subjected from an early age and which I have already discussed lead to a blind, unquestioning acceptance of alcohol as a necessary part of social life. The implications in television advertisements are explicit. If you drink one brand of vodka you are dynamic and adventurous. This whiskey indicates that you are a mature person or that cider indicates trendiness, stating by implication that success, particularly with the opposite sex, lies in a glass. Yes, our young people know the wonderful feeling of the high of alcohol even before they take their first sip. They see how witty, funny and clever a drink makes their parents and particularly their peer group, and why should they themselves not drink also? It seems that nobody has ever told them that moral values and judgments diminish with alcohol consumption or that with every drink they take they are in increasingly grave danger of becoming de-sensitised, or acclimatised to situations in which in full sobriety they would act in the opposite way. This must indicate clearly that many of our people, not only our young people, have a severe problem in self-expression particularly in the area of male-female relationships. Is it not true and are we not all personally aware that the drunk is a well known phenomenon of the Irish dance floor?
I do not think that the full answer to alcohol abuse lies in presenting young people with identity cards or threatening a publican with loss of his licence. After all, it takes only one 18-year-old to buy a drink for one 17-year-old or 16-year-old, or one household to keep a stock of alcohol or one 18-year-old to purchase carry-out to lead to alcohol abuse. If a young person sees alcohol abuse not as abuse but as part of his normal life, then prohibition of any description will not alter the situation. For example, consider the situation regarding the sale of soft and hard drugs at street corners which is totally illegal, yet this has not lessened the considerable problem.
Significant work can be done in other areas. Firstly, probably most importantly, alcohol advertisements on television should be banned totally. We may recall that as a result of the campaign for the banning of cigarette advertisements on television there have been no successful launchings of any new brands of cigarettes since that campaign reached fruition, and cigarette sales have fallen by 20 per cent. It has been suggested that the price of cigarettes was a cause of this drop in sales but a smoker is a smoker and an extra 2p, 10p or 20p will not deter a smoker from purchasing a packet of cigarettes and the same applies to alcohol. Following the anti-smoking compaign by the Health Education Bureau and various other groups smoking in public is increasingly considered to be unsociable. On several occasions I have noticed that people coming into one's house on a visit or getting into one's car will ask permission before they take out a cigarette. Secondly, we should follow the English example and not allow children under 16 years of age in pubs with their parents after the Saturday afternoon shopping spree. I would go so far as to say that children should be barred from public alcohol-related places and functions. Thirdly, we should launch a good advertising campaign through the Health Education Bureau, possibly showing the results of alcohol abuse such as death, victims of car crashes, batterings of women and children, loss of looks, aging, teenage pregancies, and indeed the ridiculous sight of a drunkard teetering all over the place. This is self-financing from the point of view that in our psychiatric hospitals one in every three beds is occupied by a patient suffering from alcohol abuse or drug abuse.
A very important factor in a campaign to alter the situation in relation to any form of abuse must involve the educational establishment. It is vitally important that a change be made in the current civics classes. I should prefer to see frank, friendly and open discussions on sex, alcohol, drugs, employment, sport and all the things that affect young people, not as isolated, single subjects but as part of everyday life. This should and will help to put these hitherto taboo subjects into their proper perspective.
Parental co-operation is a vital factor in the successful solution of any form of abuse. While accepting that alcohol is available quite easily, moderation should be the specific aim, there should be moderation by example, moderation in intake as opposed to the extreme measure of over-indulgence. Furthermore, many parents are quite aware their children are drinking but they fail to tackle the problem. I am not saying this happens because of lack of interest but they are hesitant to do so. It is often said that for the sake of peace or for some other reason they hesitate to do anything. It is far better to approach the matter in a friendly, calm and non-patronising manner rather than doing what we Irish are infamous for, namely, sweeping the matter under the carpet.
Before the motion is agreed I should like to say a few words in conclusion. This motion has shown what this House can do in regard to a matter that is being considered by the Department and by other bodies throughout the country. It is entirely appropriate that Seanad Éireann should have this debate at this stage in the development of new legislation. I hope the Minister here will agree this is helpful in regard to the legislative process generally.
There is no need for us on this side of the House to reply to what has been said in the debate. There has been a unanimity of tone and of concern in regard to this matter. I hope the debate will be an encouragement to Members of the Seanad to put down motions of this kind for consideration of social problems.
Question put and agreed to.
The Seanad adjourned at 7.45 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 18 January 1984.