Health:Drink companies' advertising should be banned in a bid to change Irish attitudes to alcohol over-consumption, which is now costing the State €3 billion a year and is linked to the deaths of hundreds, Fine Gael TD Brian Hayes has said.
Warning that the country is "in denial" about alcohol, Mr Hayes said it is a factor in 40 per cent of all road deaths, and 37 per cent of all drownings, while coping with its impacts on health and employment costs the State €3 billion annually.
"It is time that we reappraised our attitude to alcohol in Ireland and crucially politicians must show some leadership on the issue," he told the Patrick MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal last night.
So far, politicians have "refused to confront" the drink industry's €65 million a year "advertising and promotional juggernaut", said the Fine Gael TD: "This money is not being spent for the good of nation.
"RTÉ and all media outlets in this country depend upon the drinks industry in terms of selling space and advertising products. This will be a difficult issue to confront, at every level of Irish society, because vast sums of money are spent in promoting drink.
An advertising ban would be "particularly difficult" for sporting organisations because drink companies are "a rich vein of funding", though there is "something unnatural and crass" about sporting bodies having "to go cap in hand" to them.
"The millions poured into sport by the drinks industry has a pay-off, otherwise there would be no investment of the drinks industry," said Mr Hayes, as shown when it pressured the Government into dropping earlier plans to ban sports sponsorship.
"I believe that this country is in denial when it comes to the issue of alcohol abuse. The problems connected with alcohol abuse have dramatic and real consequences for the ability of the Irish healthcare system to deliver an effective service.
Up to 80 per cent of all admissions to A&E departments were alcohol related: "Clearly this is putting considerable pressure on acute care as nurses and doctors have to work in sometimes appalling circumstances.
"But look at the knock-on effects of this in terms of anti-social behaviour, sexual assaults, unwanted pregnancies, domestic violence, child neglect, sexually transmitted diseases, absenteeism, to name but a few.
"We are paying a high price for our tolerance of a drinking culture that is now out of control.
"Frequently, the issue of alcohol is a taboo subject, as the costs to the healthcare budget and to life is ignored," Mr Hayes said.
Meanwhile, a leading neurologist warned that trust between hospital managers, and doctors and nurses had now been seriously damaged because of the HSE's determination to place value for money over everything else.
"The loss of confidence and breakdown of trust within the public sector is now extremely serious," said Orla Hardiman of Beaumont Hospital, where consultants seeking to protect the quality of care were now being accused of protecting vested interests.
Labour deputy leader, Liz McManus, warned that the advantage enjoyed by privately insured patients over public patients would widen in the years ahead because of the Government's policies.
