Statements on Health Promotion Priorities - 23rd October 2008

Statements on Health Promotion Priorities - 23rd October 2008
Senator David Norris: I welcome this debate and I welcome the Minister of State to the
House. I must say, as a random observation, it is interesting that the Minister of State and the
overwhelming number of speakers in the debate were women. Women have demonstrated that
they are the people who care about the basic issues.
The basic issues are clear, and they have been dealt with fairly extensively. They are smoking
and drinking alcohol. There is no question or doubt about that. There is a huge distortion in
terms of the alcohol figures, and I believe the Minister of State put those on the record. We
are 50% above the European norm. This is described as our culture. I find that insulting. It is
not our culture the way people drink alcohol in this country, the way they damage themselves
and the way they behave in public. This is an increasing phenomenon.
In view of the short time available I direct the Minister of State to the debate held in this
House on the alcohol Bill during which many strong points were made. Some were taken up
by the Government but it did not go as far as suggested from this side of the House particularly
in terms of the control of advertising, among other things.
Politicians are too close to the drinks industry in this country in the same way as we have
discovered they were too close to the construction industry. That relationship must be broken.
Traditionally, politicians held their clinics in pubs and so on, and we have a representative of
the Licensed Vintners Association in the Seanad. They have a very strong lobby and they do
not always tell the truth. They do target young people. Sports sponsorship is an obscenity and
a contradiction. Alcohol is something that has clearly damaged the health of the country yet
we allow it to get in and target young people.
The same applies to smoking. I am very glad this country showed a lead in banning cigarette
smoking because this is the second major element in terms of what we need for a health
promotion strategy. Traditionally, the tobacco companies have been corrupt. They falsified
evidence. They deliberately included additional chemical elements that had an addictive effect.
They denied research. They lied in court in America, and they are now targeting the most
vulnerable countries in the developed world to off-load their cigarettes.
We need to be aware that the drinks and the tobacco industries are two powerful groups
who have no scruples. That is a change. In the old days in Ireland there was Uncle Arthur,
John Jameson and the old Midleton distillery but that is gone. Nowadays the players are the
big multinational corporations. They do not make their decisions here. They make their
decisions looking at a graph in London or New York and it is a question of profit. It is not a
question of the social damage that is being done. The mass of ridiculous groups that are established
are nothing but a camouflage.
We need to get into the schools early and make sure that drinking is not seen as something
heroic. I hear commentators on the radio and people on chat shows promote it subliminally.
They refer to being plastered, having a hangover or that they had a few bevies. That is the way
it is insidiously eating into what we see as our culture.
There is also the question of accident and emergency services. Part of the promotion of
health should be to penalise people. We only have to look at the distortion in the way accident
and emergency situations are dealt with because of the influx of people under the influence of
drink and drugs at the weekends. We should look, too, at the collateral nuisance caused, the
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Health Promotion Priorities: 23 October 2008. Statements
[Senator David Norris.]
proliferation of off-licences and the way in which licences are being given out throughout
the city.
I am on the Dublin central policing committee. I raised this issue and a report was commissioned.
When it came back it was all done in terms of competition policy. There was no
element of health or the social good involved. I insisted that the report be withdrawn and
rewritten, as it was, but that was the priority. Competition is a little god. It appears to be more
important than people’s health and welfare. We can give disincentives to people by making it
unattractive to smoke or drink alcohol, and the Government could do a good job on that.
I want to raise another element — spitting in the street. That went out when I was a child
because every bus had advertisements saying “Don’t spit in public”. One could be fined for
doing it. It was a serious offence but now the pavements are a mess with spit. We need to
promote awareness in this area. It is partly our own fault and it is partly due to people who
have come from other cultures where spitting is part of the daily routine but it is a dangerous
way of spreading disease. To return to the question of alcohol, in the inner city where I live
people use the pavements as public lavatories.
A number of other issues arise such as AIDS. When was the last time we had an AIDS
prevention programme directed at young people? I can tell the Minister of State that in terms
of sexual hygiene that message has got lost. AIDS is no longer seen as a death sentence. It is
seen as something one can live with. It is not treated as seriously as it should be. We need a
programme in place.
The issues of bullying and suicide were raised, and the figures outlined regarding young
males in particular. Under that there is also a concealed figure for those people who are gay,
and that must be tackled head on. A total of 80% of the bullying in schools has a homophobic
element but in 80% of cases nothing is done because, among other things, the teachers are
afraid. That is why it is wonderful that we have schools like Educate Together.
I was invited to Griffith Barracks Educate Together national school. When I was half way
there I phoned my secretary to ask if it was a secondary school. She said it was a primary
school. I was there to talk about the gay issue as a human rights issue. I was concerned but it
was marvellous because of the context in which they put it. If that had been there when I was
a child it would have been so positive and hopeful. Under the suicide figures there are many
young men who are depressed and confused about their sexual identity.
With regard to the suicide figures, we used to regard ourselves as the best of the lot and
compared ourselves favourably with Scandinavian countries in that they were either godless or
Protestants. We were a good Catholic country. Suicide did not exist. Now we have information
on the rates but it reveals only part of the picture. In the United Kingdom, for example, the
authorities factor in undetermined deaths when computing the annual figures. We do not do
that, even though a significant proportion of undetermined deaths are actually by suicide. I ask
the Minister of State to give consideration to this matter.
I compliment the Minister of State upon her interest in this area. There is no doubt that
further health promotion initiatives are required. Nutrition should be part of the school curriculum.
People become fat because they eat too much junk food.
Acting Chairman (Senator Ann Ormonde): The Senator should conclude.
Senator David Norris: This is one of the practical matters which should be dealt with in the
context of the educational curriculum.
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Health Promotion Priorities: 23 October 2008. Statements
Senator Liam Twomey: I am sorry Senator Norris was cut short because he was making a
fine contribution to the debate. It is a pity a fe