I was bringing to the attention of the Minister the frightening statistics which are increasingly coming to light and showing the effects of the abuse of alcohol in our society. I mentioned a figure of £39 million as being the estimated 1988 non-capital expenditure cost to the Irish health service for alcohol abuse and I was putting this in the context of our nearest neighbour, Great Britain, where a figure of £112 million for a population of 56 million is mentioned.
Just to put it in context, one in five of all men admitted to medical wards have an alcohol related problem in this country. A man who regularly drinks more than an averge of 64 grammes per day and a woman who regularly drinks more than 40 grammes per day stand a far higher chance of damage. To put that in its proper context, eight grammes is equal to half a pint of beer while 64 grammes is equal to four pints of beer or eight glasses of wine in the case of a man. In the case of a woman the respective figures are two and a half pints of beer and five glasses of wine. The safe limit for men in the week is 39 glasses of wine and for a woman 22 glasses. The daily intake, rather than a weekly intake, is three glasses of wine for a man and two for a woman. Senators can see that the average rate of intake in this country is higher than the safe limit.
Ten per cent of all deaths under 25 years occur while the victim is drunk. Alcohol is also associated with sudden non-accidental death. Health effects are well known. However, less well known is the fact that black-outs commonly occur during acute intoxication. How many times have we unfortunately seen youngsters wandering around after a late night drinking session or, as has become increasingly apparent in recent years, staggering in the streets of our towns and cities following a so-called celebration of their examination results? It is to those people that I direct these statistics.
Chronic abuse leads to both mental and behavioural changes, unsteadiness, loss of memory and in the withdrawal period may result in very severe delirium hallucinations. A recent survey pointed out the difficulties and the after effects of alcohol abuse on the body: aggressive irrational behaviour, violence and depression, chronic coughing leading to throat cancer, frequent colds reducing resistance to infection, cirrhosis and liver cancer, trembling hands, tingling fingers and impared sensation leading to falls, blackouts, serious memory loss, puffy eyes, drinker's nose, looking older as a result of alcohol abuse, cancer of the oesophagus, heart failure, vitamin deficiency, severe inflammation of the stomach, inpaired kidney function, with, in men impaired sexual performance, impotence and, in women, unwanted pregnancies in some cases. The list is frightening.
Malnutrition is common in alcoholics. Nurtritional deficiencies may also be the cause of neurological complications in some patients. Heart disease, high blood pressure and strokes are three times more common in heavy drinkers than they are in non-drinkers or those who drink to moderation. Thirty per cent to 50 per cent of babies born to heavy drinkers have serious defects.
The crime statistics are no less frightening in relation to the abuse of alcohol particularly among the young. In 1972 in this country there were 2,795 convictions for drunkenness. Ten years later the figure had risen to 4,734. Committal statistics show that the number committed for drug offences is low in comparison with the number committed for alcohol related offences. It is estimated that non-capital expenditure in the Irish prison service is currently standing at £4.2 million. The suggestion is that counselling in prison would help to reduce this figure.
Road accident statistics tell an equally harrowing story of abuse of alcohol. A study in Dublin and Kildare between 1977 and 1981 showed that 67 per cent of those killed had more than the legal level of alcohol in their blood. The legal limit in this country is two pints of beer. Nineteen per cent of the 218 cases examined were free of alcohol and 31 per cent of all the victims had twice the legal limit, four pints. I might mention at this stage — it is something to which the Government and the Minister should give serious consideration — that the Irish legal limit is the most lenient in the European Community and is twice that permitted in many European countries. Surely this is an area of legislation that needs to be looked at immediately in the context of the impact of alcohol abuse on our society.
To add to the argument I am putting before the Minister could I indicate to him that An Foras Forbartha 1983 report, "Road Traffic Accident Facts in 1983" stated that the numbers killed between the hours of 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. were 165 with 2,175 injured. This represents, respectively, 35 per cent and 26 per cent of the total numbers killed and injured on our roads. In other words, over one in three have been killed on our roads as a result of alcohol abuse while one in four have been injured. It indicates the continuing seriousness of drink related accidents.
Alcohol abuse and its impact are no less severe on the family. Gallup, a very well known polling company, gave data for the United States as far back as 1980 which indicated that 60 per cent of the total United States population identified alcohol abuse as one of the most harmful influences on family life today. Further, it proved that children of alcoholics are more likely to suffer from alcoholism than children of non-alcoholics. One in three in any random group survey carried out by Gallup had at least one parent suffering from alcoholism.
I put these figures to the Minister in the context of the proposals to allow children into the pubs of Ireland even though the proposed law states they must be accompanied by parents. I believe it is a retrograde step in a civilised society with such frightening statistics, causing untold social, economic, physical and psychological damage right across the entire spectrum of Irish life, to allow parents to bring their children into pubs. I do not believe the argument that they are better off inside the pubs with their parents than sitting outside in a car while the parents drink is a justifiable argument. In a recent survey published in the past few days by the newly formed cider industry council, 94 per cent of parents expressed their support for the proposed increase in the minimum age limit for purchasing alcohol from off-licence premises from 15 to 18 years of age. Surely that figure is an indication of the widespread concern Irish parents have about abuses in under-age drinking. Now the law will allow a new generation to grow up in a pub culture. I fail to understand why this provision has been included in the Bill. It is something the Minister should be very concerned about. I am opposed to it and I do not think it should be included in the Bill.
I do not wish to spend all of my contribution in quoting these statistics, but they are horrifying and it is not often one gets the opportunity to quote them. Surveys relating to under-age drinking have been carried out. The Health Council of Ireland carried out a survey recently and found that the 15 to 17 age group drink frequently. The Health Council survey of intermediate certificate students — these would be on average young people of 15 and 16 years of age — showed that 62.5 per cent said they drank. They stated that three out of five drank more than once a month and the rest drank more than twice a week. Interestingly enough, with all of the attacks being made on the licensed trade, it was indicated in the survey that in the 15 to 17 year old group, 50 per cent bought their drink in off-licence premises, 30 per cent in pubs and 20 per cent got drink at home.
The proposal to upgrade the age to 18 is a welcome provision in this Bill as it should help to cut off or reduce the purchase of drink by under-age members of our population. All of us have a responsibility in this area. I do not think it is enough to point the finger at the Government of the day and say: "You do something about this problem." We all share the problem. I believe that at least part of the answer to the problem of under-age drinking lies in the home. If the parents showed good example — if the parents were concerned about the welfare of their offspring — I believe the incidence of abuse of drink in that age group would be considerably less than it is today.
The Government can only go so far in providing the framework, in putting in the legislation, but if the proper attitude of mind is absent, no amount of legislation will change drinking habits. In that context I welcome this provision and hope it will be very strictly enforced. I understand that in public statements the Minister has made it quite clear that he is going to enforce the new provisions regorously. It is an area which I am glad has been addressed. Without in any way inferring that the Garda Síochána or previous Administrations have been lax there is a general perception that, for whatever reason, there has been a flagrant abuse of the law in this country in relation to drink, the consumption of drink and the sale of drink.
There is another area that I believe should be addressed by the Minister. It is an insidious one; it is subtle. It is not something that one can point the finger at and say it is doing a specific or significant amount of damage but again it is a perception, that is, media advertising of drink. I would like to share my view with the Minister in relation to this. Media advertising of drink in this country is governed by two codes — the code of advertising standards for Ireland and the RTE code of standards for drink advertising. They provide that advertising should not be specifically directed to youth or be capable of being so construed and secondly, that the advertising of drink should not be linked to sexual attraction or physical prowess either in word or illustration. How many of us watching our television screens nightly could say, with hand on heart, that the drink companies are adhering strictly to the letter of those codes of conduct? The practice of advertising beers extensively while refraining from advertising spirits is difficult to justify since the intake of ethyl alcohol from beer in the quantities normally consumed in this country is as high, if not greater, than the intake from spirits. This information comes from the National Health Council. They suggest — and I endorse their suggestion — that there should be an adoption of international standards in the whole area of drink advertising. It is an area that perhaps we have allowed, through default, to make up its own rules as it goes along.
While there has been no great outcry from the public, the drink companies have been allowed to exploit the code of conduct by pushing the frontiers a little bit further each time they mount an advertising campaign. If they get away with that, they push them a little bit further in the next campaign and a little bit further to the point which has been reached today. I have outlined the directives as they should be applied to the drink companies in relation to media advertising, specifically television advertising. I find it hard to accept that the drink companies are adhering not just to the spirit, if one could use the pun, but to the letter of the law. The Government and the Minister can have some impact in that area and I hope he will bring his influence to bear in addressing this increasing problem of the exploitation of the strictly laid down guidelines and standards in advertising of drink specifically on television.
Images are far more effective than the written word. The old cliché of a picture telling a thousand words could not be truer in the context of drink advertising. How many of us have seen the macho man and the sophisticated lady eyeing each other across a bar counter and then at the end of it, the message coming through strong and clear — drink this particular product and you will be like them? Personally, I have no wish to be like either of them, but I believe it is a subtle form of conditioning which, in the context of the frightening statistics I have outlined about drink abuse in this country, has an important role to play.
I would like to turn briefly to some of the other aspects of the Bill, for example, the restaurant licences. I know these licences have been proposed by tourist interests on the basis that Ireland is now a modern sophisticated member of the European Community and has been lagging behind in its social trends particularly where drink is concerned and that tourists coming into this country have been frustrated by their inability to obtain drink with a meal which is the norm in other countries. I have no particular objection to restaurants having a licence to serve drink. However, I have often wondered why the incoming tourist has been used as a justification for introducing this new law.
Tourists traditionally coming from European countries apart from the ethnic tourists or former emigrants or their descendants tend to stay in hotels. If a tourist stays in a hotel, as a resident he is entitled to drink 24 hours a day. Most hotels have restaurants and he is entitled to have a drink as a resident. However, this has been proposed. It is not a particularly bad law in principle. I just hope it will not open the floodgates to the point where we have, as is the case in some European countries — Spain springs to mind — restaurant licences being given to every food takeaway outlet operating in the country. Perceptions of what is a meal, a substantial meal, have changed considerably. It may seem like an exaggeration but I would not be at all surprised once this law is in place to see fried chicken outlets, fast food takeaways, applying for licences because they are relatively cheap — £3,000.
Fast food outlets are really a licence to print money depending on their location and how they are managed. Obviously there would not be a proliferation of such fast food outlets in this country if they were not making money. The initial investment is quite small and there is a possibility, as the law is drafted, that with the minimum of structural alterations, such fast food outlets could apply and be granted a restaurant licence and could, therefore, sell alcoholic bevarages. I would think that that would be a retrograde step and it is something the Minister might reply to on Committee Stage when we go into the detail of the Bill.
I am very pleased indeed to see a proposal in relation to registered clubs. At last registered clubs are being brought into the same melting pot as other licensed premises. It always seemed to me an anachronism that a garda going about his or her duty had to go back to the inspector of the division if there was not one in the local police station and have that inspector either issue a warrant or be present in order to gain access to a club which should have been operating under the law. That provision is now being done away with. I am very pleased that registered clubs will now have access to the law and that, in turn, their obligations under the law will be highlighted more effectively and that the obligations under which they are given their licences will be strictly enforced. It was something which was causing enormous damage and certainly was a sensitive area between licensed establishments and sporting and other clubs who were applying for and receiving licences and in some cases, perhaps — I only say this in a general sense — abusing the licence.
I would like to turn to the question of exemptions. As the Minister is aware, there has been a great deal of lobbying, intensive lobbying, from the licensed trade but especially from the entertainment industry for some further relaxation of the exemption laws as they related to weekend social activity. The Minister has made it quite clear that he will enforce these new regulations strictly. I welcome that because, although the law does not recognise the rights of any licensed establishment to sell drink beyond 12 o'clock, in other words there is no exemption available after 12 o'clock, even the dogs in the street know a substantial number of entertainment outlets in this country have been flagrantly abusing the law and serving drink well into the early hours of Sunday morning. I add my voice to that of other Members of the House who have asked the Minister to look once again at this question of Saturday night exemptions. I recognise that social trends, behavioural trends in social activities, have changed dramatically over the last 20 years.
Indeed, the church was perhaps the first to recognise these changes by introducing Saturday evening Mass for its followers and for those who wish to avail of that. Consequently, particularly in city areas, Saturday night has become the premier night out. It is not so evident in rural areas. Sunday night has been traditionally and still is the night out. In concentrating my comments on Saturday night I really do believe that if the Minister does not concede on it now, it will not be very long before social pressures dictate the pace of change in this area and the Minister will have to give serious consideration to allowing extensions on Saturday night and Sunday morning in a particular set of circumstances.
As for the Sunday night extensions I share the Minister's concern about the level of absenteeism and about the economic damage being done as a result of that absenteeism on Monday mornings. I know there have been several surveys published and I am aware that the vested interests in this area have published very impressive statistics to refute that perception. The general public would, I think, accept that there is some merit in the Minister's case that Sunday night social activity should not have the same social importance as Saturday night or Friday night purely on the basis that most people have to get up for work on a Monday morning.
I can understand the Minister's concern about this and I share it to a degree on the social side. On a purely business and economic side, keeping in mind that the Minister's view is that there is widespread absenteeism and that there is a detrimental effect to the economy as a result of absenteeism on Monday mornings, I would also be failing in my duty if I were not to express to the Minister the very real concern of legitimate business interests about what they see as an inhibiting aspect of the legislation. This concerns one small time portion on a Sunday night. The new law provides that Sunday night pub closing is at 11 o'clock. Half an hour drinking up time brings it to 11.30 p.m. The Government are not changing the law on Sunday night-Monday morning exemptions. In other words, the same conditions will apply as have applied heretofore in relation to any legitimate licensed establishment applying to the courts for an exemption.
Here I am talking specifically about places of entertainment where there is Sunday night dancing. There is a tradition in this country which goes back a long long way that, for some strange unknown reason, most punters, as they are known in the music business, do not set out for Sunday night entertainment until very late. Perhaps it goes back to the time when drink was not so readily available in places of entertainment and people went to the local pub first and then they moved on to the "dry hall" as it was known. Anyway the practice has been well established over a long period of time. Most people going out on a Sunday night to a dance still adhere to the old practices and do not appear at the door of the dancehall-cum-hotel until very late at night. In some cases it would be as late as coming up on 11 o'clock. Where there are exemptions they probably will not turn up until well after 12 o'clock.
However, the difficulty for the licensee, once the new law is enacted, is that he can have his premises open until 11 o'clock with a drinking up time of a half hour which brings him to 11.30 p.m. If he has an exemption granted for that night he must then clear his premises for a half hour, close down, put the several hundred people or several dozen people, depending on the success of the night, on the street or outside of the area where drink is being served having already taken their money from them, and then tell them: "You cannot go back in there for a half hour," re-open at 12 o'clock and continue for the remainder of the night. There is something in the argument being put forward to the Minister that is not quite right. It does not read right and, in practice, it certainly will not operate right. Again I ask the Minister and join with those of my colleagues who have asked him to address that problem and perhaps on Committee Stage we might hear his views following on the Second Stage contributions.
I make no apologies at all for saying that the law on exemptions has been abused down through the years. In that context, I welcome the Minister's commitment to enforce the law rigidly, fully and without mercy. I say that in the context of the earlier contribution I made on the abuse of alcohol by young people because it is young people in the main who attend such entertainment nights.
I would also like to draw the attention of the Minister to the difficulties being faced by people living in Border counties. I come from a Border county myself and I have to say that it sometimes seems to me, as someone living in a Border county, that successive Governments — and I am not singling out this Government or this Minister — seem to operate in a legislative vacuum. They draft and initiate legislation particularly in the taxation area which has a severe and far-reaching detrimental effect on the livelihoods of business people operating along the Border counties. This is of particular relevance to this legislation. One individual who has a business operating in County Donegal says his Northern Ireland competitors are just seven miles up the road and they enjoy such distinct advantages over him as VAT rates of 15 per cent as against our penal rate of 25 per cent. Their rates of excise duty are substantially below our rates which result in enormous differences between the prices of drinks on either side of the Border. For example a pint of beer in Derry costs 98p while a pint in Donegal costs £1.35.
The late night licences are granted en bloc in the annual licensing courts in Northern Ireland, or the Six Counties as I would prefer to call them, and a single licensing fee is paid just once at that time. Contrast that with the Republic where not only does one have to pay for all the necessary licences at the time of renewal but, in addition, a special exemption fee is also paid which is roughly around £100, including legal fees, and that is in respect of each separate exemption order.
I might add incidentally that I can understand the Government, any Government, wishing to continue with that practice as the more recent figures on exemptions relating to 1984 show that 40,330 exemptions were applied for and granted in the Republic of Ireland.
The criterion for granting late licences to restaurants and clubs in the Six Counties is that food must be available for customers, though not necessarily ordered by them, thus giving them a considerable advantage over their counterparts down South regarding the cost of their admission or cover charges. I mention this in the context of the proposal by the Minister to increase the value of what is perceived to be a substantial meal, from the old figure of £2 to £5. I accept that this is by way of ministerial order and will not necessarily become part of the legislation. I would like to suggest to the Minister that, where substantial meals are currently being served, in establishments which are strictly adhering to the letter of the law, the figure of £5 will have a damaging effect, first on business and secondly, on the consumer.
The usual rate for admission to dances where there are exemptions and where a meal is given is about £5. If the Minister introduces his order I have no doubt that, within a very short time, there will be significant increases in admission charges, which will hurt the consumer because the consumer, in this instance, will have little choice but to pay the admission charge asked for if he wishes to continue to enjoy musical entertainment. Therefore, I ask the Minister if he would consider revising downwards his proposal of £5, even to a figure of £4.
Senator Cregan amply demonstrated the different variations between what is a substantial meal in one local and what is a substantial meal in another. For some people a single of chips is a substantial meal and for others a five course meal with all the trimmings is a substantial meal. Generally speaking, these places of entertainment serve what is accepted in the courts of this land as a substantial meal. This cost is usually absorbed by the establishment concerned. They have to pay not only their normal overheads of staff, lighting and heating, but they also have to pay for live entertainment which, depending on the popularity of the particular act, can vary substantially. If that establishment is now going to be faced with having to increase the price of the food up to a figure of £5, that is not in the best interests of the consumer. I am talking about the consumer rather than the licensed establishment. I ask the Minister to give serious consideration to limiting his increase to something less than £5.
I would also like to suggest to the Minister, in the context of this Bill, that he might give serious consideration to the labelling of drinks in the same way that cigarettes are labelled. Indeed, this seems to be now happening in certain parts of the United States. California has recently introduced an Act in its State legislature providing that all alcoholic drinks will have to carry health warnings after 1 October 1988. The Massachusetts House of Representatives has passed a similar law and federal proposals have also been made in Congress in Washington. I do not have to go into the detail of the objection to alcohol. It falls into several categories. The damage caused by drunken driving and alcoholism in general is an old problem. The damage caused to unborn children by their mothers hitting the bottle is a more recent concern. There have been several cases of litigation against drink companies in the United States, specifically in California, in which these matters have been raised. The litigants claim that four children's birth defects, which include mental retardation and facial deformities, were caused by excessive drinking during their mothers' pregnancies and that the alcohol they drank should have carried warnings on the label.
The other new concern is that alcohol may cause cancer. Indeed, since July, in California, bottles of wine containing sulphites — often used as a preservative — have had to have this information on their labels. Sulphites can cause allergies in asthmatics. Spirits sometimes contain uretane, which is a by-product of fermentation and distillation, can cause cancer in some animals although it has not yet been proven that it can have a similar effect on humans. I ask the Minister to give some consideration to that. It should be a legal requirement. That might not be within his brief. It may be more in the area of his colleague, the Minister for Health, but serious consideration should be given to it. The general public have accepted the health warning on cigarette packets. It is now an accepted norm in our society. Yet the case is proven that the abuse of alcohol is a far greater threat than the abuse of cigarettes.
Finally, I should like to suggest to the Minister that, perhaps on Committee Stage or Report Stage, he might pass on some advice to licensed premises, the owners of which have been lobbying so hard and so intensively for improved hours, to the restaurant owners, who have been fighting so hard for the right to serve drink, all in the interest of the tourist. It might be interesting to put on the record of the House comments from Mr. Tony O'Brien, the managing director of Cantrell and Cochrane, in their staff bulletin of October 1987 in which he said:
There has been a gradual but definite decline in the level of business in pubs in recent times. This is a cause for concern, not just for pubs themselves where 35,000 people are employed, or for the drinks industry, which directly of indirectly provides jobs for 60,000 people. A decline in the pub trade has ramifications throughout the economy, most notably in Tourism and Agriculture.
A number of factors are influencing this decline — the desire by people to drink less for health and fitness reasons, drink driving legislation; resistance to high prices. However a most important factor is that Irish pubs by and large have failed to keep pace with the changing lifestyle of their customers. Personal sports, cheaper dining out, and even increased home consumption of alcohol are all stronger competition to pubs than they used to be. Publicans are going to have to respond to this competition to protect their business in the long term.
In the UK the management of pubs has become increasingly sophisticated and alert to consumer needs — hence the development of the traditional village pub, the community pub and the speciality pub. Standards of decor, comfort and range of services are constantly being extended and upgraded. The provision of excellent bar food, entertainment, games and related activities all day is now commonplace in many English pubs — and the customers are back. Ireland can learn from these developments.
I suggest to the licensed trade that, in the context of the Government's overall strategy to improve tourist earnings, they should look at the mote in their own eye and that when this new law is implemented, which gives them extended opening hours, they should also consider the non-drinker in the context of what Mr. O'Brien has been saying about providing a wide range of community, social and amenity style services.
In many cases the pub is the centre of local life style in small towns and villages. Why should it not respond to the needs of the community? Why should it be exclusively for people who nurse pints of beer or drink themselves silly on spirits all night? Why should it not have more to offer? If, as the law has suggested, young people are to be increasingly found in public houses, albeit with their parents, there is a responsibility on the licensed trade to respond to this new challenge. I hope they will do so and that they will also provide a wide range of non-alcoholic beverages for those of us, like myself, who do not drink but who still frequent pubs for the camaraderie, for the conviviality and the crack, as it is generally known in Ireland.
On that note of advice to the licensed trade, I welcome the provisions of this Bill, particularly those which will curb under-age drinking. I hope that at long last this country, given the lead by the Government, will start to break down the unacceptable acceptability of the abuse of alcohol so that we can have a better country and the next generation of Irish people will not be brought up in a pub culture.