NOffLA Speaks: Further call for government action

Minister of State at the Department of Health, Alex White

NOffLA believes more needs to be done where former Junior Health Minister, Róisín Shortall, left off, in terms of championing the reform of the sale and marketing of alcohol.

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Irish medics have added their voices to calls for the government to act on undertakings to tackle the irresonsible sale of alcohol, describing current government policy in relation to alcohol as "ambiguous". The Royal College of Physicians in Ireland (RCPI) produced a report, entitled ‘Reducing Alcohol Health Harm’, in which the medics expressed support for minimum pricing on off-sales of alcohol and the application of existing alcohol legislation to separate the sale of alcohol from other retail products.

The report includes 45 recommendations, 15 of which relate to the sale of alcohol and are in line with earlier recommendations of government-appointed agencies tasked with doing so. The report details several promises made by government on progressing these matters and bemoans the government’s repeated failure to act on the matter.

Specifically, the RCPI report determines that current government measures "do not sufficiently address the issue of reducing the proliferation of cheap alcohol". The report also supports NOffLA’s long-standing belief that selling alcohol is a specialist role: "The placement of alcohol in mixed retail outlets alongside groceries gives the impression that alcohol is an ordinary commodity, and normalises alcohol as part of a weekly shopping list".

The RCPI report comes some months after former Junior Health Minister, Róisín Shortall, who championed the reform of the sale and marketing of alcohol, said that she "would be very concerned if there was foot-dragging" on this issue as, she explained, "proposals were ready to go to government when I left in September". 

Deputy Shortall’s successor, Alex White, indicated in early December that he was working through each of the 45 proposals from the National Substance Misuse Strategy Steering Group, which have been with government since February 2012. Minister White promised then that he would be "getting them before government in the next couple of weeks". However, as we approach the summer Dáil recess, there has been little sign of any significant activity on this matter. Perhaps Minister White may take medical advice on the issue?

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