NEW LEGISLATION WHICH would curtail alcohol sponsorship of sports could be tabled next month, according to a report in the Irish Times today.
The clause in the legislation would also install a minimum price on alcohol units to stop retailers selling below cost, restricting advertising and the addition of calorie information and health warnings to labels.
However, the restrictions on sponsorship of sporting events would be far from immediate. Minister for health Leo Varadkar insists that the change to legislation could only be enforced once alternative sources of incomes were found and is also subject to agreement with Paschal Donohoe (minister for transport, tourism and sport).
“It is still my view,” Varadkar tells the Irish Times, “that if we are going to take drinks companies sponsorship away from sporting organisations, we are going to need, first of all to have a time gap, or lead-in time for that.
“But secondly we need to identify where the alternative source of finance would come from because sport contributes to health and contributes to the economy.”
It’s really gas, they don’t want the industry and jump up & down to denounce it but are more than happy to take revenue from them.
Then the most crucial decisions on the future of the country are made in the dail bar.
Let’s ban oil company’s as well while where at it
Sure they can make an extra plate collection at mass and do a whip-around in the local pubs…
How is it gas? Are you unable to understand that alcohol imposes enormous costs on our society. That’s why we have high taxes and are going to introduce minimum pricing.
So then ban them from concert events too. There is more anti social behaviour at music festivals or concerts than football matches.
Seriously David,are you for real or what !!!.
Do you seriously think that enforced regulation will solve Ireland’s problems.
I watch matches and quite often don’t take a drink at all for various reasons.
The last government made off sales close early and did that help..
Ireland has and always had a pub culture .
We need to tackle the problem at the grassroots and education is the key.
If you think that telling the drinks industry to stuff their sponsorship will solve drink problems then you are sadly mistaken.
Keep in mind that our government are also encouraging microbreweries and Irish whisky’s so should they be closed down as well.
The dail bar should be banned lead by example.
Mike for one you are rather rude but you also have the issue of projecting your experience onto everyone else. You have no interest in any of the research and knockdown straw men and declare victory.
Ireland has always had a pub culture and the proposals have nothing to do with that, nobody is trying to close Irish microbreweries or Irish whiskey. You are ranting about things which are totally irrelevant.
Ireland had a pub culture which is fine, the issues is around off-license trade and the fact that drink is small fraction of the cost it was 40 years ago. When my father was a young man they went to the pub and they 2 pints or maybe 3 as that was all he could afford. In real terms 5 euro for a naggin of Vodka has never been cheaper.
The proposal if you took the time to take even the briefest look at it would not effect the price of alcohol for 98% of people. It doesn’t increase the price of alcohol and we can all go to spoons for 2.50 pint still. 8 cans of Heineken for 12 euro won’t change at all.
What will change is the very cheapest alcohol which is overwhelmingly abused. The highest alcohol content for the minimum price. Cheap strong 2 litre bottles of cider will increase in price slightly.
The studies shows it will have a large positive effect on those who abuse alcohol.
The ad thing is just about changing the pervasiveness of alcohol in society. We are encouraged to drink constantly. It works which is why they do it.
Well look Mike if it wasn’t advertised on tv, in sports and everywhere else it wouldn’t be the norm. From a young age people get some delusion that alcohol is great and is what life is about, to work then to get sh*tfaced.
“We need to tackle the problem at the grassroots and education is the key.
If you think that telling the drinks industry to stuff their sponsorship will solve drink problems then you are sadly mistaken.”
We need a multi-pronged approach – including education, tougher punishments on anti-social behaviour caused by drunkenness, changes in licensing laws to ensure that all the pubs/clubs in one area do not close at the one time (thus releasing hundreds/thousands of people on the street at the one time), and changes in sponsorship rules to break the automatic mental link between sport and alcohol.
There is no silver bullet solution but there are plenty of small changes which can have a cumulative effect.
The Dáil should be banned. Sport should be banned, banning stuff should be banned.
No David I am straight to the point and I have a very low tolerance for condescending posters.
Alcohol like tobacco has an addiction factor just like gambling , phone chat rooms,drug usage etc.
So why are there adverts for all this online gambling ,chat rooms and why are they less offencive than someone advertising beer.
A majority of people are responsible drinkers and behave so.
Yes there are people that go out specifically to get drunk and start fights or just don’t know when to stop.
I do however agree that a “multi pronged” approach is needed and also more educated responsibility on the customers.
Now David you can call me whatever you want but like I stated “I have no time for condescending posters” and I react as I am approached .
i like that fact that guinness and heinekin sponsor the rugby.
Get Wetherspoons to take over the sponsorship!
LOL!
are you really laughing out loud at your computer screen. if so i worry for you LOL OMG OMG LOL OMG
Isn’t it strange that gambling companies are allowed to advertise so freely and and at times so inappropriately.
Couldn’t agree more Patrick. With all the gambling ads on telly these days making it appear “fun” to throw money away, in 10 years I think gambling will be a major problem. Not quite as bad as smoking or drinking issues but a serious problem nonetheless.
A very very good point Patrick. Anybody with a mobile phone or laptop is targeted with online gambling and sure while your waiting on a race or whatever form of gambling you can visit a chat room and talk to “genuine girls”..
Worst nanny state on planet
Hey,
Curtail alcohol availability would yield a far better response.
“Drink alcohol responsibly” is the tag line but “selling alcohol responsibly” is being ignored.
You will not be able to wear the local pubs name on your jersey but you can load up the boot of the car with alcohol at the local petrol station when the kids go in to get their refreshments.
By the way….. I don’t own a Pub.
Its not all about cheap or easily accessible alcohol. You can get a bottle of wine in Spain or France for under €2 but you don’t see them buying 10 bottles and binge drinking at home. Its a culture thing.
Hi Beano,
For sure it’s a culture thing and until the culture changes then it should not be fed. As I say the Pub’s name cannot be seen but the Supermarket selling the alcohol cheap can advertise away.
Amazing!
Drink alcohol responsibly. (But keep drinking)
I’m just back from Ontario in Canada where they have a “minimum price on alcohol units”. The choice of alcohol is crazy there so people just drive to Quebec or New York to pick up cheaper drink. The same will happen here with people who are able driving to Northern Ireland for reasonably priced alcohol.
Since the removal of the groceries orders act other goods can be sold at below cost. This has brought prices down as the large retailers compete against each other for our business. Surely the way things are the government should not be looking at taking the backward step of increasing prices for goods.
I’ll have to drive to the North from Cork so I’ll bring a trailer with me. It’s a ridiculous move.
No, Ontario has huge taxes on tax which makes it more expensive than other states. That is why people go to Quebec (which has a lower drinking age too).
The minimum pricing might make a can of miller or Dutch have to costs a minimum of 1 euro which is hardly excessive. What it will do is mean that a 2 litre bottle of the cheapest cider will cost a minimum of 5 euro. That is were you make the difference at the very low end of alcohol pricing
I don’t think food shopping has got cheaper at all john. That was Eddie Hobbs theory but it didn’t become a reality apart from one off offers.
Do they not have Poitín in Ontario?
My grandad could have taught them a thing or two.
Personally, I believe having a bank sponsoring sport is worse than any drinks company.
I can’t understand how people that never act responsible who treat the people like peasants who victimise the poor and elderly should’ve telling me what to do
It’s all about the Wonga !!! Not healthcare or positive choice encouragement !!
I think we need to start taxing luxury alcohol more, Robin Hood it, so when Kenny and his buddies are cracking their Middleton rare Christmas crackers, we know money can be wisely reinvested into lowering the price of buckfast.
Ban alcohol sponsorship and find a suitable replacement like gambling sponsorship with live in game betting.
More smokescreens from the health minister.
Irish society really has a problem with alcohol. We don’t like to hear it and we are good at making excuses. I don’t drink very much. I may have wine if I’m out for dinner. But many assume that, because I’m Irish I drink a lot.
As alcohol is only supposed to be for over 18′s it might be a start to stop advertising it on television before the 9pm watershed.
They could raise the cost of alcohol by putting a health care levy on it. It would have the added advantage of raising much-needed revenue for the Irish health system.
Yes..and where would that money go?? To the banks.
Barry
It ain’t April fools day yet son
Removing the association with sport would be the single biggest thing ever done to tackle underage drinking in the history of the state, crazy that it has taken so long.
It’s already happening in France and their top 14 has much more money flowing in it than any other in the world so it’s certainly possible to finance.
Of course the impact would still be tempered by the Dublin fascination with the English Premier League but we could at least do our part.
The 2015 dynorod hurling championship it’s got a ring to it….
Sap vadkar b far better worrying about health system than drink sponsors sure who could replace them
Some people here are seriously living in cloud cuckoo land.
Look, the drinks industry cynically target the young demographic through sports sponsorship and advertising and the reality is that they constantly need to keep replacing their older customers who stop drinking or die.
They don`t waste their money on sponsoring garden fetes, they have done their market research and know that drinks advertising is most effective when it is associated with success and sporting achievement and it`s not just about brand recognition as they claim.
The GAA for years said they needed sponsorship from Guinness, yet they easily replaced them as sponsors of the All Ireland hurling Championship.
Similarly the tobacco industry resisted advertising restrictions but today nobody would seriously suggest that tobacco companies should sponsor sports events, but they did for years and years.
The drinks industry is a very powerful lobby and will fight tooth and nail to retain their position they need to be faced down.
Drink is anathema to sport and as a society we have to face up our drink culture and what is happening our streets at night.
The French have outlawed drinks sponsorship and have the H cup, other countries are following their lead, why cant we.
This article is funny!
English language is loaded (or fou, or blotto) with ways to say ‘drunk’
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-1231-crystal-drunk-words-oxford-english-dictionary-20141231-story.html#page=1