A senior drinks industry figure was accused of talking "nonsense" yesterday at an Oireachtas Committee when he suggested that drink advertising was not designed to increase consumption.
The director of corporate affairs at Guinness Ireland, Mr Pat Barry, was also accused of contradicting himself. He had said that television images helped foster a drink culture, but claimed that drink advertising was designed only to make consumers buy a different brand.
Mr Barry was making a presentation on behalf of drinks industry representatives at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children. Those in attendance included the stout-maker, Beamish & Crawford, and the beer company, Heineken.
He said there had been a "very dramatic and frightening" escalation in alcohol abuse but said the industry had conducted its business "in a responsible and sensitive way".
The committee chairman, Mr Batt O'Keeffe, said the committee had been given the direct opposite impression by sources in the medical area, who cited the health damage linked to alcohol abuse and high admissions of binge-drinkers to accident and emergency units.
He said: "Surely we have to accept that some of the images we see regularly on TV screens and the values (or rather lack of) presented to us are influencing young people on a regular basis."
While stating that the advertising spend by drinks companies had doubled in the past 10 years to about €35 million in the last year, Mr Barry said its effect could not be easily quantified.
"Advertising or promotion generally involves one company competing against another for a market and for every winner there is a loser." He said companies "do not in any way target those who are under the legal drinking age through their marketing efforts".
This was rejected as "nonsense" by Fine Gael's health spokeswoman, Ms Olivia Mitchell, who said nothing would dissuade her from the "reality" that advertising helped increase consumption. Mr Barry said that to focus on advertising was to miss the underlying problems.
Labour spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, said Mr Barry had failed in his presentation to link a 41 per cent increase in drink consumption in 10 years with the profits made by drink companies.
She criticised an industry-funded body, Mature Enjoyment of Alcohol in Society (MEAS), for concentrating on education and research. This was hard to stomach when the industry had dissented from the conclusions of the task force on alcohol.
The MEAS chief executive, Ms Fionnuala Sheehan, said sensible drinking could fit into a strategy for healthy living generally. The body wanted a rigorous self-regulatory approach, responsible serving, more designated driver programmes, and the provision of information to promote sensible drinking.