This article is from page 12 of the 2013-09-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
IT MUST be the Government’s objective to “extract” alcohol from the experience of sport in Ireland, a meeting has heard. That was the view expressed by Minister for State for Primary Care, Alex White, at a meeting in Ennis on Thursday night.
The Labour Party TD outlined a number of measures including the introduction of minimum unit pric- ing aimed at reducing societal alcohol consumption.
Minister White told the meeting in the Temple Gate Hotel that the drinks industry spent € 39 million on advertising in Ireland last year.
On the issue of alcohol sponsorship of major sporting events, Minister White said,
“I believe that alcohol involvement in sport and the way it is so embedded on the one hand, and the pursuit of excellence in sporting perform- ance on the other, the two are just manifestly incompatible. I regard it as counter intuitive that you should have such a close relationship between alcohol and sport. I think it has to be addressed. I think our objective must be to extract alcohol from the sporting experience.”
He said from a broader healthcare perspective, it is imperative Ireland “rethinks” its relationship with alcohol.
He said, “Alcohol was responsible for at least 88 deaths every month in 2008. Alcohol was a contributory factor in half of all suicides and in deliberate self-harm. Alcohol cost an estimated € 3.4 billion in 2007 to the healthcare and justice system to the economy. And one in four deaths of young men were estimated to be due to alcohol in 2008.”
The meeting, which was held to mobilise discussion on alcohol awareness, was chaired by Clare Labour TD, Michael McNamara.