A Fianna Fáil amendment requiring health warnings on alcohol products to be listed in Irish as well as English is expected to further delay the enactment of controversial public health legislation if accepted.
The amendment to the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill, introduced in 2015 and still being processed by the Oireachtas, has been submitted by party spokesman Stephen Donnelly.
It is one of a series of amendments introduced by TDs for the report and final stages of the Bill which will be debated in the Dáil on Wednesday.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar who introduced the Bill in 2015 and Minister for Health Simon Harris had expected the Bill to be passed this month. But Mr Harris and Minister of State Catherine Byrne face renewed pressure from party colleagues over its health warning provisions.
Cancer alert
Thirteen Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Independent TDs have submitted a number of amendments including removing a previously agreed amendment to require all alcohol products to display warnings linking alcohol to cancer, and similar warnings in pubs and restaurants.
Before the summer recess TDs accepted amendments to require all alcohol products carry health warnings. A number of changes to the legislation were notified to the European Commission as part of a formal EU alert system, where individual member states advise of changes which could have an impact on trade.
The Commission did not oppose the measures, including the warnings linking alcohol consumption to cancer. If the legislation is passed Ireland will become the first country in the world to carry such cancer warnings.
But the 13 TDs have submitted report stage amendments opposing the warnings on products and in advertising.
Mr Donnelly’s amendment is seen as likely to require notification to the EU if passed which would put the Bill on pause for a minimum of three months and up to 18 months.
Public health advocates fear that with a general election in the interim, the legislation could be scuppered.
The Wicklow TD, along with a number of other Deputies also calls for airport Duty Free to be excluded from the requirement to have warnings on labels.
Amendments
Other Fianna Fáil TDs Bobby Aylward, Declan Breathnach, Kevin O’Keeffe and Eamon Scanlon as well as Fine Gael TDs Peter Burke, Pat Deering , Peter Fitzpatrick and Tony Mc Loughlin also submitted amendments opposing elements of the label and advertising warnings.
A number of Independent TDs – Michael Collins, Michael Fitzmaurice , Noel Grealish and Carol Nolan – did likewise.
Director of Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland Patricia Callan welcomed the TDs’ “reasonable amendments”, which she said were required to “protect the reputation of Ireland’s quality drinks brands” and to safeguard rural jobs and the economy.
Ms Callan said that because no other country had mandatory cancer warnings on its alcohol products it “would have a hugely negative reputational impact on our brands.”
But Alcohol Action Ireland head of communications and advocacy Eunan McKinney said that by “backing these industry sponsored amendments, these TDs are backing the alcohol industry ahead of people’s health”.
