An organisation representing 1,500 small shops and retailers has called for the online sale of alcohol to be scrapped in a bid to stop teenagers buying it.
The Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association also said the rules governing the issuing of Garda age cards needed to be changed and that the sale of alcohol to over-18s should be staggered on the basis of alcohol per volume.
The body was responding to Thursday night’s Primetime programme on RTÉ, which showed a number of off-licences in Swords in Dublin carrying out the illegal practice of cash on delivery with alcohol sold to underage drinkers.
Tesco and Superquinn, which operate an online ordering service which also covers the delivery of alcohol, were also shown to have delivered alcohol to underage test buyers.
Vincent Jennings of the CSNA said it was "not good enough" that the Department of Justice had given assurances that the law covers practices such as cash-on-delivery sales, and that the gardaí needed to be more proactive when it came to using test buyers to deter alcohol sales to minors.
"I have no doubt that with the vast majority of retailers there is a very comprehensive policy regarding an ID requirement at shop level. But there should be an immediate cessation of availability of alcohol online. We need to treat it as the product it is. They either have to accept that this is a controllable substance, or that it is not."
He said currently people can only apply for a Garda age card once they turn 18, and that the system would be improved if it could be applied for before that and then collected on their 18th birthday.
He also said preventing the sale of stronger liquors to those aged between 18 and 21 would also help to reduce youth drinking, based on the volume content.
Source: Noel Baker, The Irish Examiner, 21/08/2010
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