Rethink sought on vodka sachets

The new vodka sachet drinks are "an exploitation of young people", and businesses selling them or planning to do so should think again, the Assistant Garda Commissioner, Mr Al McHugh, has said.

Mr McHugh, who is responsible for policing in the Dublin Metropolitan Region, said the sachets would be easy to conceal on the person, making them difficult for gardaí to detect during searches.

He feared the new drinks would be abused by large numbers of young people.

"Anything that would add to the problems that exist among the younger generation at the moment, with the abuse of drink, I would have great concerns about," he said.

"This might add more problems. A lot of work has been done to ban some of these [alcopop-style drinks]. Certainly I would have reservations that the sale of these sachets is another way of exploiting young people if they are going to be attracted to these type of drinks.

"Because of the small size of the drinks they [young people] can conceal them on the person, and it would be more difficult for gardaí to detect so I would have huge difficulty with them.

"I'd call on responsible people to rethink their sale.

"With the Junior Cert results coming up next week we'll be running a special operation in Dublin to combat the abuse of drink and paying special attention to areas in which we think drink would be sold to under-age persons."

Mr McHugh was speaking at the opening of a new Garda clinic in Temple Bar, Dublin, which will operate every Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for a two-month trial period.

The clinic will be staffed by a garda from the neighbourhood policing unit at Pearse Street station. It will answer queries from tourists and members of the public. It will also act as a liaison point between local businesses and gardaí.

The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, met representatives from the licensed trade, including vintners, off-licensees and hoteliers, for two hours on Wednesday.

He said all those in attendance agreed the vodka sachets should not be stocked by their members as they were clearly aimed at young people.

Mr McDowell will discuss the issue with the Garda Commissioner, Mr Noel Conroy, "with a view to the Garda keeping an eye on the situation".

When the Original Bullseye Baggies were launched last week, by the Dublin-based Little Drinks Company, there were calls to ban the product.

However, a spokeswoman for Mr McDowell said the Government would monitor the drinks industry's self-imposed decision not to stock the drinks to see how effective it proved. If the product was not widely stocked a ban might not be needed.

Dr Joe Elias, the main shareholder of, and spokesman for, the Little Drinks Company, was unavailable for comment last night.