Press release
Minister Harris and Minister Byrne welcome first restrictions on advertising of alcohol that become law today
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
The Minister for Health, Simon Harris TD and Minister of State, Catherine Byrne TD today welcomed the coming into operation of three sections of the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018.
Minister Harris and Byrne also announced the establishment of a Public Health Alcohol Research Group to monitor and evaluate the effects of the Public Heath (Alcohol) Act 2018.
From today (12 November):
Minister Harris said:
“Studies report consistently that exposure to alcohol advertising is associated with an increased likelihood that children will start to drink or will drink greater quantities if they already do. These measures aim to change that situation in Ireland and to remove alcohol advertising from the day-to-day lives of our children.”
Minister Harris went on to say:
“We still have a lot of work to do in this area. An analysis of data from the Global Burden of Disease Study published in March 2019 showed that Ireland has the third highest levels of adolescent binge drinking in the world at 61% for females and 58.8% for males. Reports in October this year identified an 80% increase in 2018 in the number of children under-16 admitted to Irish hospitals because of alcohol intoxication. 36 children in 2018 compared to 20 such cases in 2017.
“I am determined to continue this fight. These and other measures in the Public Health (Alcohol) Act will effect practical changes in our society in order to ensure that there will be no room for alcohol and alcohol advertising in Irish childhoods. To ensure that the measures in the Act are comprehensively evaluated so that we can assess their effectiveness in meeting the policy objectives, a Public Health Alcohol Research Group has been established. The wide representation on the group, each bringing their own expertise, will ensure that a robust framework is created to evaluate the impact of this ground-breaking legislation.”
Minister Byrne added:
“These new measures align with the goals of Healthy Ireland by protecting the future health and wellbeing of our children and young people. I am confident that they will help to bring about a cultural shift in how we view and consume alcohol in Ireland. They also represent an important step in our progressive public health approach to tackling the harmful use of alcohol in Ireland in line with our National Drugs Strategy, 'Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery. The establishment of the Public Health Alcohol Research Group will ensure that the goals of Healthy Ireland are met through the measurement and evaluation of the provisions within the Act."
HSE Environmental Health Service Lead, Ann-Marie Part said:
“We welcome the commencement of the implementation of the first phase of the 2018 Public Health (Alcohol) Act and HSE environmental health officers will work with all of the relevant parties to ensure there is full compliance with this new legislation.”
HSE Assistant National Director for Health and Wellbeing, Helen Deely said:
“The commencement of the implementation of the first phase of the 2018 Public Health (Alcohol) Act is very welcome. The toll of alcohol related harm falls heaviest on families and the Public Health Alcohol Act will benefit the health and wellbeing of thousands of people and families across the country.”
Speaking on his appointment as chairperson of the Public Health Alcohol Research Group, Professor Barry said:
“Today is a very important day in public health alcohol policy in Ireland. Minister Simon Harris was rightly praised this time last year for his commitment in getting this legislation on the statute books. The establishment of this Research Group will enable us to gather timely data from now on to measure the effectiveness of this legislation. I look forward to the Research Group commencing work in the very near future."
ENDS
The Alcohol Research Group will be chaired by Professor Joe Barry, Professor of Population Health Medicine, Trinity College Dublin and will include representation from the Health Research Board, academia, the Department of Health, the HSE, Alcohol Action Ireland and the Institute of Public Health.
The members of the research group will be appointed by the Minister for a three-year term after which the role of the research group will be reviewed.
The Health Service Executive website askaboutalcohol.ie provides evidence-based, expert information on a low risk approach to alcohol.
Further information on the Department of Health's Alcohol policy is available here.