Drink sales labelling still not in force

The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, is coming under increasing pressure from within his party to enact measures aimed at curbing under age drinking contained in legislation passed more than a year ago.

Under Section 22 of the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2003, alcohol sold in an off-licence or as a takeaway from a public house must carry a mark identifying its place of purchase.

The section was included specifically to tackle under age drinking, and is aimed at allowing authorities to detect off-licences supplying drink to minors.

However, the measure, recommended by the Commission on Liquor Licensing and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, has never been enacted.

Although it was part of the Act, the Minister decided to postpone passing this section to allow further talks with "interested parties", including vintners bodies.

Off-licence and vintners organisations had objected to the inclusion of the provision in the Act.

Last August, Mr McDowell said the measure would be the subject of a "ministerial regulation", which would allow it to be passed separately from the Act later.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said the process was on-going, and that the Minister had sought legal advice from the attorney general. The advice centres on whether a case taken against an off-licence owner would stand up in court.

She said she did not know when the provision would be enacted.

The Vintners' Federation of Ireland, (VFI) said yesterday it had expected to meet with the Department to discuss off-licence labelling, but no contact had to date been made.

The chairman of the Oireachtas Health Committee, Mr Batt O'Keeffe (Fianna Fáil), said the Minister must enact the provision as a matter of urgency.

"It is incumbent on the Government and the Minister for Justice to bring this provision in at the earliest possible date," he told The Irish Times yesterday.

The committee had always supported the measure, he said, and it was a recommendation in its report, Alcohol Misuse by Young People. The report said suppliers of alcohol should "as a priority" be required to have identification included in each unit of alcohol "to identify outlets that supply alcohol to under age persons, and persons who do 'secondary purchasing' for under age persons".

The National Off-Licence Association (Noffla) said it did not think labelling would be helpful. "Labelling wouldn't be any use; it tells you where the drink was bought, but not who bought it," said Noffla spokesman Mr Jim McCabe.

While the label would not be proof that an off-licence had sold alcohol to a minor, "we are concerned it would become a proof in court".