Underage drinking in Galway
Senator Healy Eames seeks a debate after hundreds of young people queued outside a Galway pub, warning of binge drinking and risks to health and public property; an exchange follows over her explanation of the issue.
I heard all about Donegal Tuesday for about two hours when I listened to "Liveline" this afternoon. This morning at 8.45 a.m., 500 young people queued outside a particular public house in Galway. Apparently this is a new tradition that started about four or five years ago, and since Donegal won the all-Ireland, where people don Donegal shirts and queue. Really it was queuing to commence binge drinking when the pub opened at 10.30 a.m. I fear what state those young people will be in by now. I fear for their health, their well-being and for other people's property. As a parent of young people, it is difficult to fight this culture of binge drinking. I am being straight when I say it is impossible to fight such a culture alone and families are finding this really tough. We have to start breaking down this culture. It is hard to change culture but we have begun to be successful in terms of drink driving, for example. I call on the Leader to say to the Minister in charge of this matter that we need a systematic plan to combat binge drinking. It is an awful shame that we did not break the link between sports advertising and drink. We have gone some way towards doing so but it is not good enough. I ask the Leader to invite the Minister here and start a serious debate on the matter.
I ask the Leader to arrange an urgent debate on the Children and Family Relationships Bill which received approval from the Cabinet today to proceed. The Minister for Health's article in the Irish Independent today was factually incorrect. He put it on paper and published that there would be no legal change as a result of the same sex marriage referendum. How incorrect is that?