Tobacco and Alcohol Consumption: Motion
Dr. Henry: I welcome the Minister or State to the House. Like Senator Feeney, I could really support both the motion and the amendment. It is a pity the Government felt it had to put down an amendment, because we all realise we have a very serious problem with both alcohol and tobacco. It is not just our problem but a problem in many countries, and it is important that we look at the international aspect and the all-island aspect. Like Senator Feeney again, I am on the Health and Children committee, and we had the good fortune to have very useful inputs regarding alcohol and tobacco from people in the Department of Health and Children, the consultants from the hospital casualty departments and representatives from the sexual assault treatment unit in the Rotunda, which Senator Feeney talked about. They all came before us with very useful contributions.
After the Order of Business today, I went to the Dáil to listen to the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, taking questions and abuse, as it could be called, regarding the current state of the health services, which definitely face problems. I was sad to see that only his Ministers of State were there to support him. There were no other members of the Government present, nor indeed were there any backbenchers while I was there. The man deserves support because he has a very difficult portfolio, and it has not been made any better by the serious problems associated with the use of tobacco and the misuse of alcohol. Suppose the Minister had stood up today and said he intended to save 20% in casualty departments by saying that anyone who arrived there drunk would be slung out, and similarly anyone who arrived with tobacco-related diseases. Let us remember the way the grasshopper and the ant spoke to each other. The grasshopper danced all summer, and when he had no food in the winter, the ant said: "You danced in the summer, now sing." The Minister could try saying something like that to those with tobacco-related diseases, because they are costing us a fortune.
While there has been some decrease in the use of tobacco, we have to look very seriously at tobacco advertising. Senator McHugh talked about young men and drink, and I would like to talk about advertising and young women. We had a very good presentation from the Department of Health and Children officials, Mr. Eamon Corcoran, Ms McEvoy and Mr. Ó Dufaigh regarding the new directive from the European Union on tobacco advertising, which is to come in within a couple of months.
As we know, the previous directive was brought down by the European Court of Justice on the grounds that it covered forms of advertising which had no trans-national implications and therefore exceeded its legal basis under Article 95 of the European Union Treaty. The present directive is being brought forward to take account of the court's decision, and it is narrower in scope, but it is hoped that it strikes a balance between complying with internal market rules and the need for a high level of public health protection. On a national basis we can be even more determined than the directive is.
I very much support what the Minister for Health and Children intends doing about banning tobacco in public places. I have been to Ottawa and Halifax, and the pubs there are still open and doing very good business as far as I could see, despite the fact that tobacco had been banned there only a few months previously. People who were working in these establishments told me that it was a godsend to them. They said the bar trade decreased for a while but that the table trade had increased. They said there had not been a decline in their fortunes and I would expect the same to happen here.
7 o'clock
Despite what Senator McCarthy said, New York has not fallen apart since the ban was introduced. The Minister of State has not heard Senator McCarthy's concerns about the introduction of this ban, which I am sure he will allude to when he speaks.
Mr. McCarthy: Absolutely.
Dr. Henry: It shook us when we thought of what might happen in pubs here.
The officials of the Department of Health and Children raised the matter of indirect advertising and this worried me. The new directive does not deal with indirect advertising, namely, the use of tobacco brand names and logos on non-tobacco products. They expanded on this by saying that more countries were going to impose partial and total bans on indirect tobacco advertising as the industry had been found to be adept at finding creative new ways to publicise brands, particularly among young people. This is known as "brand stretching". The tobacco industry, like the drinks industry, invests heavily in this. Logos are put on clothes, boots, travel bags, fashion accessories, coffee, alcohol, etc., and these are then heavily marketed. This maintains brand recognition without appearing to advertise the products.
I wondered if this happened much. When exiting the gates of Leinster House on the day in question, I met one man wearing a T-shirt with the brand "Camel" on it and a young woman wearing a T-shirt that had "Campbell's Grouse Whisky" written across her bosom. These are not things I would associate with wearing T-shirts and I was quite surprised to see them. They obviously exist, however, and until they are pointed out, one may not notice them.
I strongly feel that the advertising of both alcohol and tobacco is directed at young women. I say this because I have seen advertisements for alcohol in places that only women frequent. For example, in the women's lavatories in the arts block in Trinity College, there is an advertisement for a pub on the door announcing a special offer of three vodkas for €10. While Senator Bohan will probably tell me that this is quite expensive, I am not currently in the vodka buying business and it seems to be quite a good deal. That was definitely encouraging binge drinking or, as Dr. Anne Hope from the alcohol unit of the Department describes it, "crash drinking".
I do not know if Members saw the three young women in Belfast - I have no reason to think things would be different in Dublin - on television some nights ago being asked about how much they would drink on a regular night out. One said she drank three cocktails, one shot and five vodkas, another drank three cocktails, two shots and six vodkas and the final one drank something similar. That is an incredible amount of drink for girls of 19 and 20. At the end of the interview, all the drinks were lined up on a table and an expert on alcohol problems was asked for his opinion on it. He said it would have been more than enough to drink in a week. These young women did not consider this to be an enormous amount to drink on a night out.
This crash drinking is the kind of thing Dr. Anne Hope told us about. Young people drink not to enjoy themselves, rather to get drunk in the same way as taking drugs. I support what Senator Feeney said about the reports of Rohypnol being put in people's drinks - alcohol, not Rohypnol, is the rape drug.
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