Alcohol is not essential, Danny

It’s a sad state of affairs when an elected representative uses our Dáil chamber to act as a lobbyist for the drinks industry.

I refer to TD Danny Healy-Rae’s heart-rending cry that the proposed lowering of the legal blood alcohol level will doom his 93-year-old constituent to spend his remaining days alone, trapped, night after miserable night, in his home, in solitary confinement.

This infers it is almost a physiological fact of life that alcohol is an essential substance, on a par with food and water; without it, it is impossible to have a social life, interact with friends, listen to

music, tell jokes, laugh, hear all the gossip, etc. That is a very dangerous and illogical assertion to make.

What about the many thousands of people who have great social lives and don’t drink any alcohol at all? Or those who go to the pub and drink non-alcoholic drinks?

With people like Mr Healy-Rae doing their work for them, Diageo and others don’t need to hire salespeople at all!

Maybe the old man’s TD should invite him out some night to sit by the pub fire, meet his mates and sip a few soft drinks instead?

It seems a reasonable alternative to the one Mr Healy-Rae has already mapped out for him. Maurice O’Scanaill Clifden, Co Galway