Sir, – Ross Mac Mathúna (December 21st) of the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland references the position of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the alcohol industry and claims it recognises that economic operators in alcoholic production and trade are "important players" in its global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol.
In fact, what the WHO strategy, unanimously endorsed by member states, does is restrict the actions of economic operators in alcohol production and trade to their core roles as “developers, producers, distributors, marketers and sellers of alcoholic beverages”. The WHO makes it very clear that “the development of alcohol policies is the sole prerogative of national authorities” and “the alcohol industry has no role in the formulation of alcohol policies, which must be protected from distortion by commercial or vested interests”.
The target of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill is not to “punish” consumers of alcohol or the industry that provides them with it, but to reduce our per capita alcohol consumption to the OECD average of 9.1 litres per capita, some two litres beneath our current levels. We simply cannot reduce alcohol harm without reducing consumption, which increased in Ireland last year and is on course to increase again this year.
While this increase is good news for those represented by the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland, it is bad news for public health. – Yours, etc,
CONOR CULLEN,
Head of Communications
and Advocacy,
Alcohol Action Ireland,
Coleraine House,
Coleraine Street,
Dublin 7.