Father Micheál McGreil should have been here but cannot because of a family death. He wishes to thank the commission for inviting us here. The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association welcomes the publication of the final report of the Commission on Liquor Licensing and is grateful to the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights for the opportunity to reply orally to its recommendations.
We in the pioneer movement recognise the benefits of alcoholic drink in moderation. Abstention from alcoholic drink is totally voluntary on the part of our members. We do not have anything against people drinking in moderation. The association's main aims centre around sober use of alcohol in society and the rehabilitation of the victims of alcohol abuse and its excessive use. I will talk a bit more about that later.
The PTAA holds the view that the State has as part of its responsibility for the promotion of public welfare an obligation to control the public sale and consumption of alcohol and its promotion in society. Like many other groups of concerned citizens, our members are becoming alarmed by the social, personal and cultural effects of the excessive use of drink by people of all ages, not just teenagers. We are particularly worried by the drinking habits now being adopted by young people.
It is in the light of these aims and concerns that we make the following comments on the report. Recognising that the terms of reference limit the scope of this report, it is nevertheless the responsibility of the State to legislate in a more comprehensive context, that is, giving primary consideration to the protection of the young and the promotion of a social environment that is free of alcohol dependence. The concerns of the PTAA - the promotion of sobriety in the use of alcohol by adults and the protection of youth from its use - are not adequately covered in the terms of reference on which this report is based. However, in so far as it addresses the adequacy of the current licensing system and makes a number of important recommendations, the PTAA welcomes the report.
We welcome the discouraging of the development of the "super pub". We also welcome the restoration of the normal closing time, especially on Thursday. We hear on a daily basis of the number of people who cannot turn up for work on a Friday morning and of the number of school children who cannot turn up for school on a Friday morning. We would be delighted to see that recommendation being implemented and a return to the 11.30 p.m. closing time on Thursday nights.
We are also very happy with the strict local control of exemption orders. This is being abused at the moment and we see great value in the recommendation. We also welcome control of mixed trading premises and control of distance sales and delivery of alcohol, a very worrying issue for the association. Our grassroots remind us on an almost daily basis about the abuse of distant sales whereby wine, for example, can now be ordered and delivered by just a phone call.
We welcome the tightening of control of registered clubs, about which I will have more to say later; the positive recommendations in relation to children and young people; and the outlawing of vending machines used for the sale of alcoholic drink. We sincerely hope that drink is never sold from vending machines. We are also pleased with more involvement of the Garda in monitoring and controlling of the present situation.
However, we find the report weak and deficient in certain areas and would like to highlight some of them. First, the barring of the promotion and advertising of alcohol at sports related activities, even though it is a recommendation, should be acted upon immediately. Most of our young may become involved in sports and if there is advertising of alcohol on premises or promotion by particular teams, clubs or whatever, it provides a strong incentive for young people to take up drinking because they hero-worship sports stars. During the recent rugby match between Ireland and England, even the referee was able to advertise the name of a certain drinks company on his back. The referee is permanently before the camera and can be seen at all times, so it was very nice for the drinks industry to avail of that form of advertising.
We seek a prohibition on advertisement of alcohol products in public media likely to influence young people, especially on websites, magazines and papers to which young people have access. As already stated by the first two speakers, the advertising industry has a huge influence on young people and they are more likely to drink if such advertising is put before them. We also seek the printing of a health warning on all advertisements and containers of alcoholic drink. That is a very serious point and we go along with what has already been stated on it. We see no reason why a health warning should not be put on all advertisements and containers of alcoholic drink because many people are not aware of the dangers. Young girls who become pregnant and who drink do not realise how dangerous it is for them to continue drinking or to continue binge drinking. Their should be a health warning on all drinks.
It is our desire that the repeal of the late night, early morning extensions in opening hours permitted under the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2000 would be reverted to and implemented. Since the new laws permitting extensions to the opening hours were introduced, there has been an increase in violence and in abuse of all kinds, such as sexual abuse and harassment. People now have a fear of going out at night. The pioneers have found that people, young and old, coming home under the influence of drink are more likely to commit abuse of a violent nature.
We recommend much greater curtailment of off-licence outlets and the separation of part of a premises which sells alcoholic drink from the general grocery store. It is too easy to obtain drink where both food and drink are on the same floor or on the same premises and, in some cases, are mixed together. We strongly recommend that the alcohol being sold on these premises should now be sold in a separate room, with a separate entrance and that it be monitored in the same way as a licensed pub. We have grave misgivings about the monitoring of the selling of that drink. We also have serious information about the pilfering of drink from such premises, where very young people, and not so very young people who are already addicted to alcohol, can go in, cause a disturbance or get somebody else to cause a disturbance and then go out with their pockets full of containers of alcohol. We recommend that the building be completely separate from where other items are being sold.
Our next recommendation involves the strict price control of alcoholic drink to avoid underpricing and we cite here the pub which offered an entrance fee, or that one paid a certain amount to go in and drink all one wanted for the rest of the night. We feel that this is very serious and should be strictly controlled. There should be a total ban on drinking in public places, parks, footpaths of towns and cities and other areas, such as sports stadia, popular concert locations and racecourses, outside the licensed premises. This is not just to ban drinking, but to help public order by stopping the violence and aggression shown by groups who sit on footpaths, collect together and get violently drunk and disturb passing members of the public. Then we see all the aggression pouring out which may be the cause of recent attacks such as, for example, the most recent incident where a seemingly innocent person going home was suddenly attacked by others.
The fourth point we would like to make is that greater State investment is required in support of leisure and recreational opportunities in local communities and we strongly recommend that the Government look at this in a serious way. The drinks industry is costing the State more than €2.4 billion a year. Proper facilities could be provided in local communities for less. We are constantly hearing the old cry that people have nothing else to do and that the only place to go is the pub. We cite here a number of issues. For example, it is very simple to set up skateboarding facilities because skateboarders seem to be banned everywhere they go but people can spend a lot of time on skateboards or whatever. The same applies to go-karting and small things of that nature. We would leave the clubs to look after the major games, but alternatives should be provided.
The next thing that we want to recommend is the rehabilitation of victims of abuse of alcohol, including families. This must become a priority under the direction of the State and the capital and running costs should be carried jointly by the taxpayer and the drinks industry because this has serious implications. If the drinks industry is the cause of people having drink problems, it should also be the cure.
There is a need for greater monitoring by the State of the personal, social and cultural effects of alcohol consumption in Irish society. This would require an independent and comprehensive multidisciplinary research unit given the task of informing the Government and the public of the effects of alcoholic drink in the population of all ages and classes. The funding of such a unit should be levied, at least in part, on the drinks industry and it would have to be independent. If we get the drinks industry involved in funding an independent and comprehensive multidisciplinary unit, the State, not the industry, should own it. Finally, the special unit should be set up by the Garda to police the abuse of alcohol and prevent underage drinking.