Alcohol bill seeks to shut us down
■ The Public Health (Alcohol) Bill will reach committee stage in the Dáil today.
The bill is a major legislative initiative to help achieve our public policy objectives on tackling alcohol misuse in Ireland. It includes a range of new regulatory changes focused on reducing alcohol consumption.
As an organisation committed to the provision of public health information on alcohol in Ireland, Drinkaware has welcomed the bill.
We do have one significant concern, however. This bill, if enacted in its current form, will significantly set back the provision of public health information on alcohol in Ireland and consequently frustrate the very objectives that it is trying to achieve.
Under the proposals, Drinkaware will be prevented from placing our website address or logo on any alcohol advertising or labelling. This restriction will directly limit our capacity to engage people on the clear, effective messaging that we have presented since 2006 on preventing alcohol misuse in Ireland, and providing public health information to reduce alcohol consumption here.
Drinkaware is the leading source of alcohol information in Ireland – 76pc of Irish adults know and trust our work, significantly more than for any other provider. But instead of encouraging Drinkaware to do more to support people to reduce alcohol misuse, this bill seeks to shut us down and provide a monopoly on alcohol information to the HSE, an organisation with multiple other responsibilities.
The core objection is that Drinkaware, although run and governed on an independent basis, receives funding from the drinks and grocery sector and so we should not be allowed to continue to promote our work on drinks ads, labels and marketing materials.
There is no such thing as too much public health information on alcohol – what matters is that the information is accurate, reliable and trusted.
Significantly reducing alcohol misuse and harm in Ireland cannot be done by the Government alone.
Niamh Gallagher Chief executive, Drinkaware