We must not dilute Alcohol Bill

■ After almost 800 days, many of which were fraught with intensive lobbying by the alcohol industry, the Public Health Alcohol Bill has survived relatively intact and will continue its journey through the Oireachtas in the coming weeks.

You would imagine at this stage that the opposition to its progress would begin to wane but, no, it is unrelenting. The latest attempt by ABFI (Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland) to dilute what remains of the bill comes under the banner of “Balance the Bill”. It speaks of the drinks industry being “a great Irish success story with exports worth over €1bn” and the warning “this must not be taken for granted” could be seen as a veiled threat to job losses and closures.

The €2.35bn cost of alcoholrelated harm to the taxpayer is ignored.

It also says certain proposals in the bill are “poorly targeted and are not based on evidence”.

The evidence of the link between alcohol and cancer has been established beyond doubt, but has been dismissed by the alcohol industry. They also speak of the bill having unintended consequences.

For who? Certainly not for the three people who die every day as a result of alcohol, or for the 50pc of suicides every year in which alcohol is a contributing factor. There is no mention of the fact that a person is eight times more likely to die by suicide if they are binge drinking.

Having lost our 19-year-old son David to alcohol-related suicide, my focus is very much on what this bill can help to achieve. The bill in its current form is still strong enough to make a difference. I would ask our legislators to unreservedly support the objectives of this bill. So please restore balance to the bill and pass it into law.

John Higgins Ballina, Co Mayo