Medical and community leaders who were members of an official alcohol strategy group have slammed Government moves to drop plans to ban alcohol sponsorship of sporting events.
Professor Joe Barry of TCD said such a decision would show the Government had “caved in to big multinationals” and was placing their interests “above that of the public health of young people”.
Community representative Fergus McCabe described the move as “absolutely disgraceful” and said it would show the Government “didn’t have the bottle to stick by what they know was right” in banning sponsorship.
Consultant psychiatrist Eamonn Keenan said he was “disappointed” by the reports, saying there was “clear evidence” that ending drink sponsorship helped reduce alcohol use in young people.
All three sat on the Government’s National Substance Misuse Strategy Steering Group, which, after three years’ research and discussion, published its report in February 2012.
The group — containing representatives from the community, medical groups, and government departments — made a list of recommendations including that alcohol sponsorship of sports and other events be phased out by 2016.
The recommendation has been strongly opposed by sporting groups and drinks companies.
The time-period was subsequently pushed out to 2020 after consultations with the industry.
Source: Cormac O’Keeffe and Shaun Connolly, Irish Examiner, 27/01/15
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