Taoiseach Enda Kenny has given a clear signal that he will soften legislation that threatens to force stores to completely separate alcohol from other items, following strong opposition from the Fine Gael parliamentary party.

Forced to defend Minister of State for Health Promotion Marcella Corcoran Kennedy at a parliamentary party meeting, Mr Kenny heard criticism of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill from 20 TDs and Senators.

Backing the Minister of State, he said common sense needed to prevail on disagreements about the need for formal separation between alcohol and other goods, which he described as a minor issue in a substantial Bill.

However, TDs and Senators said they would table amendments to the legislation if their concerns – intensified by a major lobbying campaign by small retailers – were not reflected in amendments to the legislation.

‘Structural separation’

Meanwhile, the Seanad failed to meet its deadline to deal with amendments to the legislation following a 3½-hour committee stage debate, dominated by debate on minimum unit pricing rules and restrictions on advertising.

Under the legislation as drafted, retailers will be required to have a “structural separation” between alcohol and other items, though there is considerable disagreement about what this means in practice.

Ms Corcoran Kennedy said the phrase would involve “an actual wall being built along with a till and a separate door and alcohol being located within that unit . . . structurally separate from the rest of the shop or supermarket”.

But, she told Senators, this wording did not “adequately reflect what we want, which is restricting visibility so that children and young people will not be attracted to alcohol”.

Illustrations had been designed which included curtains to cover alcohol displays.

“We are not asking anybody to structurally separate the premises,” said Ms Corcoran Kennedy. “We are asking them to visually separate alcohol from the eyes of children and young people.”

Health risk

A Government amendment bans the free supply of alcohol “for the purpose of promoting the use of another service”. This would include free alcohol served in barbers, hairdressers and nail bars.

Independent Senator Frances Black welcomed the move. She said “alcohol is heavily promoted, widely available and very often given away for free as if it were just another ordinary, risk-free product”.

People were poorly informed about alcohol’s health risk, she said. Supporting amendments to strengthen the Bill, she said: “At the very least let’s not water it down.”

Asking why minimum pricing rules could not be introduced immediately, Fine Gael’s Michelle Mulherin said Senators have been “excessively lobbied” on the legislation.

A Government amendment will prohibit the manufacture or sale of children’s clothing displaying alcohol logos, though Fine Gael’s Paddy Burke said “some children are as big as 20-year-olds”.

Clothing and souvenirs with alcohol logos are sold in shops and at airports. “If somebody is found wearing the Guinness sign, who is prosecuted?” He asked if it was the child, the manufacturer or the seller.