Castlebar town councillor Harry Barrett has called on the Government to take steps to regulate the home delivery of alcohol and particular to prevent deliveries to those under age.
“In Castlebar, it is now as easy to order home delivery drink as it is to order a pizza, and there is little or nothing to stop drink being delivered to those who are not legally entitled to buy it,” the Labour councillor said.
Cllr Barrett criticised the Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern for failing to use powers available to him to provide for the traceability of takeaway alcohol sold in off licences, pubs, and supermarkets. “As far back as the Intoxicating Liquor Act of 2002, on foot of an amendment introduced by the Labour Party, the Oireachtas included a provision that ‘the name of the owner and the address of the premises to which an on-licence or off-licence is attached shall be clearly indicated on a label affixed to any container in which intoxicating liquor is sold for consumption off the premises’. The then minister, John O’Donoghue, was empowered to make regulations to bring this into operation, but this was never done. The provision was re-enacted in a different form in the 2003 Intoxicating Liquor Act but, again, Fianna Fáil has failed to use the powers given to them to make the regulations required, pleading practical difficulties in devising an appropriate labelling scheme. However, it would seem that there is a lack of political will involved.
“If we are serious about dealing with the problem of underage drinking it is essential that proper measures be introduced to ensure traceability of takeaway sales and to properly regulate home deliveries,” Cllr Barrett concluded.
