By Dimitri O’Donnell

RTÉ News

An 18-hour crackdown on TV and radio alcohol advertising has officially come into force.

The watershed ban ensures a daytime broadcasting ban on alcohol advertising, with no advertisements for alcohol products on television from 3am to 9pm and on radio on a weekday from 3pm to 10am the following morning.

The new rules come into effect under Section 19 of the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 (PHAA) and seven years after being signed into law.

Campaigners hope the new measures will help to reduce the level of exposure of alcohol marketing to children, which is considered a key driver of initiating alcohol use by children.

Alcohol Action Ireland said the ban is long overdue as Ireland is still drinking at a level 40% higher than HSE lower-risk guidelines.

“Ireland is rightly praised internationally for its leadership in passing the PHAA, which is a suite of quite modest measures designed to provide some degree of protection from the tactics of an aggressive industry acting against the population’s health through relentless marketing,” said Dr Sheila Gilheany, CEO of Alcohol Action Ireland.

”AAI and many others have strongly campaigned for years for its introduction and since it was passed alcohol consumption per capita has dropped by 10%, which is positive,” she added.

However, alcohol is estimated to kill more than 1,500 people every year and costs the State €12 billion annually.

Alcohol Action Ireland said not all sections of the PHAA have come into force despite the progress in implementing the new alcohol advertising rules.

”[This] shows the power of the alcohol industry’s lobbying efforts to stymie and delay progress,” Dr Gilheany said.

The two further sections of the act in relation to advertising that remain to be commenced are Section 13 which places restrictions on the content of alcohol advertisements and Section 18 which relates to advertisements in publications.

AAI said Section 13, in particular, is ferociously resisted by the industry as it restricts the content of alcohol advertisements to facts, stripping out the industry myths which are used to promote alcohol consumption.

In addition, ads for alcohol products will be required to include health information such as cancer warnings and details of the HSE alcohol information website, with the aim of providing unbiased material about alcohol risks and to break the positive associations between alcohol and lifestyle.

“The different sections of the PHAA are designed to complement one another and the legislation’s public health benefits will only be fully realised when all the sections are enforced,” Dr Gilheany said.

“With Ireland still drinking at a level 40% higher than HSE lower-risk guidelines, this is an imperative,” she added.

The organisation said there appears to be no progress in Section 13 being progressed by the Department of Health.

”Even if commenced today, it will take three years before the section is enforced, so that would be a 10-year delay on legislation that was signed into law in 2018,” Dr Gilheany said.

Alcohol Action Ireland have called on the incoming government to fully implement all sections of the PHAA, adding that polling has suggested that more than 70% are in favour of controls on alcohol.

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