Loftus: Booze must go

THE GAA should ban all alcohol advertising if they are serious about tackling a serious problem in Irish society.

That was the view of former president of the association Dr Mick Loftus, who was speaking at the Mayo GAA Convention in Geesala, near Belmullet, on Monday night.

Dr Loftus was speaking in favour of a motion from the Tourmakeady club calling for the ban of alcohol sponsorship on inter-county jerseys as worn by children.

“The whole culture out there needs to be changed and unless we tackle the area of the promotion of alcohol, we’ll never change the culture,” said Dr Loftus. “It saddens me that the GAA has one of its major competitions, the hurling All-Ireland, still sponsored partially by a drinks company.

“People say ‘what will we do without the money?’ Well, we did without it for long enough and got on fine. Just look at France where they have the Loi Evin law [on alcohol advertising]. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have the same in this country. The greatest drug danger in this country is alcohol.”

Kevin McDonnell, a delegate from the Kilmaine club, said he was in favour of the motion but a certain balance was needed.

“The bar and the pub is a very important part of rural Ireland. Most clubs go into pubs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night selling lotto tickets. We need to be careful we don’t demonise what is, for many, just having a couple of drinks on a Saturday night. Yes, alcohol abuse is terrible, but the drinking of it isn’t,” he said.

The motion was passed and is in line with the belief of Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna, who believes it is “inevitable” the ban on alcohol sponsorship and branding in France will extend to all EU countries.

In yesterday’s Irish Examiner McKenna dismissed speculation there is pressure on Guinness, whose current SHC deal has elapsed, as a GAA sponsor.

He said: “No, I don’t think so. The whole of Diageo have been a very, very strong partner of the association. The advertising and marketing campaigns they have put behind hurling over the last 10 and more years have been extraordinary and very creative.”

Meanwhile, retiring Mayo GAA secretary Seán Feeney was defeated in a battle for the position of Central Council delegate by incumbent Jerry Henry. Mr Feeney had to retire as secretary last month after he turned 65 years of age. He had been in the position since 1995. Tourmakeady’s Kevin O’Toole defeated inter-county referee Vincent Neary in the battle for the vacant secretary’s position.

The Ballinrobe GAA club chose to protest at the Mayo Convention by abstaining from voting in any of the elections on the night. Club delegate Alan Flannery said Ballinrobe had little confidence in the officers of the Mayo County Board over the handling of the debt issues regarding the redevelopment of McHale Park, Castlebar.