Social Democrats TD Sineád Gibney has criticised the government for delaying a long-promised measure which would put health warnings on alcohol.
Gibney noted that when Simon Harris was Minister for Health in 2017, he introduced a bill which would require any alcohol that is sold in Ireland to carry a health warning on labels.
Following complaints from Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke that the labelling would have a negative economic impact, Gibney has expressed her frustration with the government.
“It is unacceptable that alcohol labelling has officially been put on the back burner – sacrificing public health measures in favour of appeasing the alcohol lobby is a dangerous precedent to set,” Gibney said, remarking that the government wants to keep the alcohol industry happy at the expense of public health.
“We are squandering our chance to lead on this as a country and make sure people are informed of the risks of alcohol to their health – with all of the people negatively affected by alcohol in this country, it is appalling to see the commitment to address this issue being paused indefinitely,” she said.
The Dublin Rathdown TD noted “the proposed measure was eight years in the making and is one Tánaiste Simon Harris introduced himself as Minister for Health – we should not be taking backwards steps when it comes to essential public health policies.”
“The pause is particularly frustrating in light of the number of small and medium enterprises who are worried about their future – the measure would not impact our producers’ exports as it only puts the onus on the seller to ensure correct labelling.
Gibney added “it is deeply unfair to market this delay as a support in response to tariffs – if the intention was to support SMEs, we would be helping them redesign labels, not leave them uncertain of when they need to be ready to introduce this change to their products.”
“Enterprise Minister Peter Burke must revoke his request to the Health Minister to delay this important public health measure, or, better yet, the Tánaiste should take control of this situation and do the right thing.”