Labour wages war on drink culture

THE drinks industry should be forced to pay the Government a special levy of up to €40m to fund education programmes for young people, Labour’s Joe Costello has said.

Speaking yesterday at the launch of a new Labour Party policy document on alcohol, Deputy Costello suggested the levy should at least equal the €38m annually that the drinks industry spends on advertising.

Labour’s policy document points out that Irish people drink 56% more than the EU average and sets out a range of proposals to tackle the issue which include:

A lowering of the blood alcohol limit for drivers to 50mg, roughly equivalent to one pint or a measure of spirit;

A a lowering of the limit for provisional drivers to zero;

Random breath-testing of drivers.

Labour’s plan also supports a ban on all advertising that links alcohol to young people and sports, the use of health warning labels on advertising and the use of the Personal Public Service (tax) card for age identification in pubs.

The Labour Justice spokesman also said legislation dealing with the liquor trade should be brought together in one single statute:

“There are currently over 70 pieces of legislation covering the liquor trade. The law should be codified in one single statute.”

None of the legislation promised by Justice Minister Michael McDowell had been published said Deputy Costello, adding that the minister had presided over “an unprecedented descent into wanton violence and thuggery on the streets”.

Both Deputy Costello and Labour’s transport spokeswoman Rosin Shorthall criticised the lack of enforcement of underage drinking laws by gardaí.

Deputy Shorthall called for traceability of illegal sales and a clampdown on adults who facilitate young people by buying them alcohol:

“Traceability is essential when dealing with sales to minors in particular. There is little or no enforcement of the law in relation to people purchasing alcohol for minors in the knowledge that those minors are under age.”

There were few prosecutions relating to sales of alcohol to minors from off-licences.

Referring to the responsibility of the service industry, Deputy Costello said there was not enough of a link between the sellers of alcohol and the damage caused.

While rejecting the idea that pubs should automatically be held in some way legally responsible for drink-driving incidents, Deputy Costello said publicans should be made appear in court.

“We have been too lax in establishing the connection between drink driving and the public house.”