This motion, which I move on behalf of Fine Gael, will, I am sure, have the support of most thinking people in the House. I consider it a singular honour to have the opportunity, for the first time in my memory, to debate in this House the question of the effects of the abuse of alcohol on our way of life and particularly on our young people. For long we have skirted this issue and have not dealt with it honestly here.
There is no doubt but that the abuse of drink constitutes a major threat to the wellbeing of this country. I appeal to all sections, to parents, pastors of all denominations, politicians and publicans, and to all whose responsibility it is to be concerned about the way in which our future is shaped, to join in launching a campaign to dissuade young people from believing in the fabrication of fantasy which is so much of today's promotion of alcohol. I have no doubt that the massive manipulative skills of the advertising media and of major industry is having a detrimental effect on the welfare of young people and is causing damage to Irish family life. Drink in itself is a good thing, as are most things used in moderation. However, when drink is associated with a massive campaign to promote drink not as a good thing in itself but as a panacea for all ills, as something that will facilitate young people in not just having an evening out but in enjoying a whole new way of life, the time has come for us to say that the other argument must be put regardless of the consequences and the effects it might have on the industries affected. No parent, politician or publican could not but be concerned. The vast majority of people are responsible and cherish the welfare of the country. As always, some people are not interested in the welfare of young people and they put profit first. It is our job to say that, in view of the increasing tide of misery, damage and destruction which the abuse of alcohol is waging in Irish homes and among young people particularly, we must counteract this trend. That must be done on a number of levels.
I consider the problem to be very serious. It is fortunate that we have many voluntary organisers and leaders among young people's organisations who have manfully endeavoured in difficult circumstances to create a fun ethic, a place of enjoyment, entertainment and leisure activity, outside of drinking areas, which too often are purported to be the places in which young people must be if they are to be with the in-crowd. We are obliged to say to people involved in voluntary youth organisations that they are doing a very good job. One of the planks of the campaign which I hope to outline to tackle this problem is support and enhanced prospects for all the organisations which are doing their job as well as possible. Without their input, their patriotism, and their caring for young people, this battle will be lost.
Available research shows that the drinking patterns of young people give us some cause for concern. During this discussion I am not concerned about pointing the finger at young people because most of these people who are being exploited are basically children — teenagers and, in some instances, not even teenagers. They deserve our protection and care and I hope that that is what they will get as a result of this debate. According to surveys carried out we know that something like 80 per cent of boys and 73 per cent of girls have taken alcoholic drink at some stage. We also know from these surveys that 43 per cent of boys and 39 per cent of girls consider themselves as occasional drinkers, that 13 per cent of boys and 10 per cent of girls consider themselves regular drinkers and that, while the majority of those who described themselves as regular drinkers were aged from 16 to over 18, there was a small but significant number from under 12 to 15 years.
Those figures are out of date because they relate to the early seventies and the most up-to-date statistics show an increasingly disturbing pattern. In a survey carried out some years ago by Miss Joyce Fitzpatrick, M.Sc., of the Department of Social Science, UCD, we are told that 72 per cent of males and 40 per cent of females had taken their first drink before the age of 18, that is three-quarters of the young men and almost half of the women had taken their first drink before they were 18. About 37 per cent of the boys and 15 per cent of the girls had taken their first drink before they were 16. These figures are now almost ten years out of date. What is the consumption pattern like at the moment? A recent study by Mr. Brendan M. Walsh, Drinking in Ireland, shows that unfortunately that trend is being consolidated. As Mr. Walsh says, it is notable that the rate of growth of alcohol consumption in Ireland has in recent years outpaced that recorded in neighbouring countries. We have now drawn level with the UK in terms of consumption per person aged over 14, whereas in the mid-sixties our consumption was about one-quarter below the British level.
We know from the statistics on the rates of admission to psychiatric hospitals in relation to alcohol related problems, from statistics available to people concerned with absenteeism from industry, from the impressions and the amateur statistics provided by people involved in voluntary organisations, from our own common sense and from the meetings we attend that more and more young people are drinking at an earlier age and, unfortunately, they are drinking irresponsibly. They are doing that because we are not helping them to educate themselves towards the positive and negative sides of drink. We are not showing them proper standards of example in our homes and in our public places. We have not outlawed the employment of children in lounge bars, public houses and places of entertainment. We are increasingly providing easy access to late night drinking by virtue of granting licences whenever they are applied for.
I know that the Minister of State, Deputy Doherty, has already expressed concern about this as about many other areas. I accept his integrity in this respect and there is no suggestion of party political treatment of this topic this evening. We are all concerned about it. I hope we will have ventilated this evening our concern and our expression of hope that something will be done and some positive commitment that something will happen in the near future.
We know in relation to tables of alcohol consumption per head of the population, age 15 and over, that the figures show a gradual increase which is doing the country significant damage. We know from comparative tables in other countries in relation to the consumption of alcohol per head of the population that Ireland does not have any cause for rejoicing.
The approach to tackling the problem must be comprehensive and concerted. The statistics are shocking and point to the need for the most urgent implementation of measures at a number of levels to combat this growing evil. Publicans and others involved in the licensing trade should be among the people involved in this. Those people are also parents and they are very concerned about excessive drinking of alcohol among young people. It is always the minority in any walk of life who cause damage and who do not care anything about our young people. We must exorcise those people from among us in order to ensure that the great damage inflicted on our homes is no longer a feature of our society.
Do we realise what it must be like for the young person who is obliged to look forward evening after evening with fear to the prospect of alcoholic parents coming back into the home, incoherent, fighting, possibly abusive to the children and neglectful of them? They deserve our pity and our support in relation to every measure we can take. I commit our party this evening to the introduction of measures which will bring about a change of public attitude in this respect and the urgent introduction of law reform proposals designed to ban the sale of drink to people under 18 years of age and to ensure that the easy access which young people have to drink will be denied them. We have seen great tragedy in relation to cider parties in which in my constituency young people lost their lives.
I believe the measure of the moral welfare of our civilisation often resides in our ability to protect the weakest and most vulnerable in our community, who are surely our young people. The Minister and everybody else in the House knows that we can walk 100, 300 or 1,000 yards from this House this evening and find young people serving drink who should be at home doing homework or in bed. We can find young people drunk in this city at the moment. We know from Dublin Corporation, and possibly other local authorities, and the teacher organisations, that the spectre of alcoholism and drunkenness among school children is now a problem.
Is it any wonder when they have no difficulty getting drink? When they turn on the television they are bombarded by an artificial world in which drink is the door to all good. We can only try to restrict those campaigns. It would be against what many of us stand for to be over censorious in that respect. The right approach to balance these campaigns is a positive campaign in schools to educate our young people, in the homes to have the highest possible standards of example and parental attention and discipline, and on our media by ensuring that there is a balance kept between exploitation in this regard and the need to look after young people. The Health Education Bureau are doing a good job as far as their resources will allow them. If we are to cope with the multinational giants in this field it is important to give the Health Education Bureau proper facilities and sufficient resources to carry out their great work.
We know it is not merely a question of reacting to statistics. We know that in many cases drink is a symptom of some greater problem. The development of non-drink social activity centres, leisure facilities and amenities in our cities where there are none is very important. We cannot neglect this. The few yards of carpet in the lounge bar for many people is the nearest they will ever get to some peace and tranquillity because their lives are so full of the grimness and sordidness of life in our cities. We need to be able to show young people that there are other places they can go to where they can entertain themselves. This is why the work of youth organisations must be the pivot of the campaign I speak about. We must provide them with adequate resources. Is it not a shame that those youth organisations and many organisations concerned with psychiatric help have to beg for funds to do their good work? I am not denying that there is a role for voluntary work and that we all like to contribute to those organisations, but we must think again in relation to the pattern of our resources if we are to tackle this real problem.
We know that in many cases loneliness and shyness and the comfort and friendliness of publichouses and lounge bars are factors which encourage young people to spend their time in those places. There is nothing else for them to do. We know there are many towns all over the country where the only activity or a break of any kind is a visit to the local lounge bar. I am not saying that all lounge bars are anathema to the good of the country, that drink is an evil. I do not believe it is, but I believe that we lag very far behind in explaining to young people how important it is to respond maturely and in an educated manner to the potential for good and the potential for evil which lie in alcohol.
In Belfast there are many areas, which one would expect to be drab and at a disadvantage, but are streets ahead of us. In places like Andersonstown and other areas in Belfast there are wonderful leisure centres with swimming pools, cafes, sports facilities, tuition facilities, evening class facilities and study centres. We are lagging far behind in this regard. A major investment of resources is essential if we are to get away from the present spectre of a few drinks being the main outlet for many young people with the exception of the voluntary youth clubs which are usually struggling to exist.
I believe the time is long overdue to launch a major campaign in this regard. It must be a comprehensive campaign and I suggest ten points as central to any reasonable campaign of reform in this respect. We must ask our schools to do more in this area. We must seek to introduce in schools courses of instruction and education which will expose the evils of abuse in those respects which will be anti-addictive in nature and which will show up the fallacy that happiness and fulfilment are to be found in drink or in drugs. We have not counteracted that propaganda. We have not given the resources to our schools. We have not made the necessary curricula changes. Those who are promoting the other side of the picture have vast resources at their disposal, and are using them very effectively.
We should consider very strongly banning the sale of alcoholic drink to people under the age of 18 years, in any circumstances, at any centre. We are told people are sent on a message and, in our day, many of us were sent on messages. Those who want to send young people on this message will have to be discommoded slightly to protect young people. It should be an offence to sell drink to people of tender years. We can discuss or argue about the age of 18 years, but there should be a ban on the sale of alcoholic drink to young people. In that context we should deplore those people who are abusing young people. Some people, sadly perhaps due to their own addiction, use young people for the purpose of procuring drink when they feel they would not be welcome in a particular establishment. I understand there is also a converse side to that point, and that there are some young people who pay adults to get drink for them. Obviously that is to be deplored.
As a third point, the employment of children in any public place where drink is available should be banned. I know it is supposed to be outlawed at a certain age, but it does not work. There is not adequate supervision, and I call for a tightening up of the legislation in this respect, and the enforcement of the existing legislation. It is very sad indeed to see many pale-faced 14 year olds serving drink in lounge bars. I do not care whether they are members of the owner's family or whether they are working to make a little money. It is wrong, and we all know it is wrong. Let us stop it. How can we expect a young person to grow up properly given that example?
Fourthly, off-licences, particularly those associated with supermarkets, should have a separate entrance. It should not be possible for a mother with young children to be able to procure drink in the same area where she buys normal household goods. Off-licences could be attached to supermarkets, but there should be a second entrance. I am supported in that view by the Licensed Vintners' Federation and by others who are concerned about present abuses.
Fifthly, I should like to see a national authority set up to conduct a counter-campaign, involving representatives of the concerned organisations, be they parents, Members of this House, the Churches, the Garda, the vintners and others with a legitimate interest. Young people too should be well represented on this body which would have the will and the resources to counteract the propaganda to seduce people into believing that drink is the be all and the end all.
As a sixth point I should like a massive advertising campaign to be undertaken to put the truth about alcohol into perspective. Like many other things, there are very good points about it. In moderation, drink is probably of great benefit but, in view of the effect it is having on our young people, the other side must be shown up. If necessary, this campaign could be funded in part by the companies who derive a living from the sale of drink. The economics of it would have to be considered carefully. I see nothing wrong in those, who even if they do not intend to so often contribute to this tragedy in Irish life, being obliged to subsidise a public educational campaign about the facts in this area.
The whole approach should be positive. It should show people that a balanced, mature, sensible approach to drink is the right way to go about it. It is important that we should be wary about being over-repressive. I am not in favour of a response which would seek to build up drink as a myth available to the few and as if it were something we wanted to hide. We should be quite honest about it. An argument is put forward in other countries that, if people are introduced to drink at an early age, they may be more amenable to a sensible approach to it. I am far from convinced by that argument, but I am willing to look at it.
The Health Education Bureau are doing their job. I want the Minister to answer a specific question. Will he give £ for £, or as near as dammit to £ for £, to ensure that the other side of the story is put forward? These advertising campaigns are extremely carefully contrived. I do not blame the advertisers for this. It is their skill and their job. The very rubrics of RTE regulations in this respect are of dubious value in some cases. I question whether they are fully implemented. If you look at the code — and these points are the minimum standards to be observed — you will see statements like: "Jingles or music scores with vocal accompaniment are unacceptable as is the use of sound effects of drinking"; "excessive product displays, bottles, cans, filled glasses or point of sale material must be avoided"; "The advertising of alcoholic drink should not be linked to sexual attraction or physical prowess either by word or allusion".
Those codes are being broken. I can name the advertisements if necessary in which they are being broken. Even the minimum standards for protecting people are not being implemented. If I am wrong about that, I hope I will be corrected because I feel I am taking a slight advantage of RTE in saying that without having someone on other side to argue back. If the Minister tells me that advertisements for certain well-known drinks do not link sexual attraction and physical prowess either by word or allusion to alcoholic drink, I suggest we must be looking at different stations.
There is no point in our pretending we can twist the advertising industry to meet our needs. The way to do it is to counteract it and give the other side of the coin and let the mature young people, in whom I have great confidence and faith, and to whom I believe great credit is due for the manner in which they are dealing with the problems we foist upon them, make up their own minds with a bit of help, guidance and counsel. Therefore, a strong campaign is necessary.
As a seventh point I suggest the positive development of amenities and recreational facilities where the fun and the leisure ethic is central, and where drink is not the central theme. It is sad that so many functions and so many meetings of branches of party organisations, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or Labour, have to be held in or over lounge bars. We are all guilty in this respect. That is because we have no choice. For some extraordinary reason, apparently schools and public buildings are anathema to politicians, or vice versa. We are not allowed to have meetings there. They can be used for bingo and various important purposes while apparently a young group of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or Labour politicians are not entitled to the same facility. That is an aside.
We must develop these amenities. There is no substitute for them. The very good, sensible, responsible youth organisation structure which exists, and which is represented here this evening, needs our support, our care and the investment of resources to let them get on with the job. We do not want to squeeze out the role of voluntary organisations or to take over the job. We should take up the lead they have given and facilitate them by providing them with the resources necessary for them to do the job. It is a tragedy that youth organisations are obliged to appeal month after month for grants, large and small, to do work which, if it is not done, will deprive many young people of the potential to fulfil themselves in a normal walk of life and will cause enormous damage to the State and cost us millions. Let us, therefore, respond generously and involve youth organisations in our campaign in this respect.
There is a variety of law reform measures and they are matters about which we cannot pass responsibility to any other forum but here. The Minister and all parties have an opportunity of saying how soon they will introduce law reform measures in relation to a variety of important issues. Some of these issues have been pointed out by the Gardai, by caring organisations, by the Irish National Council on Alcoholism, by individual youth organisations, by politicians and by various sections of the media. I should like to spell out in more detail the need to change the law in certain areas.
The law in relation to the age at which young people have access to drink needs to be reviewed and rewritten. We need to ensure that young people do not have the facility of getting their hands on drink when they are in their early teens. If it fell to be my lot, that is the way the law would be. I know there are counter arguments and other points of view that may be put, but the greater good of the majority of young people demands that we get tough in this respect. A consolidation of the present liquor laws could be argued for. Provision for a much tighter control on the sale of drink to young people is essential. That would include the restriction of access to young people, particularly in respect of off-licences attached to supermarkets. There would be a separate entrance and young people would not be allowed to enter. There is need to update the law and penalties for offences related to control of access by young people to drink.
We should discourage people from drinking for the sake of it and encourage them to drink only as an ancillary to other social activities. There are many responsible members in the licenced vintners and publican trade at present who are endeavouring to create a certain amount of leisure activity apart from the pure drinking hole that many places are. We might question the motivation, but it is a healthy development and shows that drink in itself is not the reason for existence which on occasion it is purported to be.
The question of opening hours needs to be looked at. There are two views on this. One says we should have reduced opening hours while the other says that if we have them open all the time there will be less of a rush to drink. I am not sure about that point, but some consistency regarding opening hours would be good. The abuse going on in relation to late night drinking allegedly with a meal — we all know the contents of some such meals — needs to be curbed. The Minister knows of the growth in the number of such licences over the last few years. We do not want to take away the right of voluntary organisations to raise funds or have social functions without careful consideration, but the doubling of the rate of licences granted is something that should be looked at. It is very hard to explain unless our pattern of evening entertainment has changed radically, which I do not believe.
The Garda are seeking the abolition of the need for a search order or other authority to enter and inspect registered clubs. That should be considered. The registration of such clubs and the way they operate is a matter which falls slightly outside the ambit of this, but it is relevant to the degree of access those whose job it is to enforce the law are entitled to have. The creation of an offence for persons found consuming intoxicating liquor in a registered club during prohibited hours is another matter which should be considered. We could make provision requiring persons found in a registered club during prohibited hours to give their names and addresses, which they do not have to do at present. We could create the presumption that drink having the appearance of intoxicating liquor found in the possession of a person in a licenced premises or a registered club is intoxicating liquor. We could give power to the Gardai to confiscate any such intoxicating liquor found in the possession, in a public place, of a person believed to be under 18 years of age. That cannot be done at present unless the garda has a warrant. If a garda comes on a group of teenagers having a cider party it is not unreasonable that he should be entitled to confiscate that drink. It is totally impracticable, and therefore does not happen, that we should suggest that they would have to go off to obtain bureaucratic approval, though I do not wish to downgrade the importance of getting proper authorisation for certain measures. The reality is that, if we insist on such a measure here, there will be no cessation of such parties by young people.
We could provide for proof of age of persons found in possession of intoxicating liquor in public places. The suggestion was made that identification cards for young people should be introduced. I am not overenthused by that idea. I am not sure how practicable it is, and it is slightly odious that people, particularly girls, who can look very young and be well over the age of 18, will have to produce evidence. A compromise might be that if you get someone about whom you have a doubt, you ask them to produce evidence of their age.
We could tighten up on the law of liability of master for actions of servant, especially relating to offences arising from supply of intoxicating liquor to young persons. What that would mean is that in a situation where one comes across children of tender years taking alcoholic drink the parent is legally responsible. Ultimately much of the responsibility we are talking about rests with the parents. It is not right that the State should take that away. At the same time we must point out that that responsibility is not met on occasion. We should consider the degree to which we can insist on legal responsibility in situations where a parent is found to be aiding and abetting a person in possession of drink they are not entitled to.
This campaign must involve the whole community. It must involve parents, priests, politicians and so on. This is the kind of goal that can mobilise people. It does not call for a major transfer of resources. If we organise a campaign for young people, they would play their part and respond and say: "We want to be able to use drink sensibly". I am not calling for the abolition of drink but for it to be utilised sensibly and seen to be a good thing in itself. At present it is woefully abused. In relation to absenteeism in Irish work places, figures indicate that companies have found alcoholism accounting for 10 to 25 per cent of absenteeism. We all know the Monday morning syndrome. In pure mercenary terms, let us think of the damage it is doing. Think of the many homes tonight in which there is a frightened bewildered child having to witness the spectre of two parents, in many cases helpless victims because it is a drug we are talking about, who are unable to look after them, perhaps beating each other up, swearing and unable to meet their responsibility. I thank God I did not have a home like that but I care deeply about ensuring that such homes are, as soon as they can be, a thing of the past. Young people need our protection and care in that respect.
We must do more about the treatment of people who are too deeply involved with alcoholic drink. The question of providing detoxication centres in places of penal servitude is a matter for the Minister for Justice. We find voluntary organisations very much to the fore in providing proper remedial help and care. We need to do more in that respect. We are investing in our young people and in our future by these measures. We are not asking for charity to be given to these people. We are asking this evening — and, I hope, committing ourselves to a concerted ten-point plan of action — that alcohol, which is presently eroding the very basis of our society, will be the subject of a completely new campaign by the Government with the full co-operation of all parties and all sides of the community to ensure that we have a proper balanced approach to the matter and that young people get the protection, counsel and help they deserve.
There is much more one could say, but my time is up. I feel deeply about it and I appeal to the Minister listening to give me a guarantee that before this session is out we will see at least a beginning to this campaign about which I speak.