The Junior Health Minister says he hopes to have proposals on the sponsorship of sporting events by alcohol companies before the Government by Christmas.
But Alex White said that cutting the link between alcohol companies and sporting events would not be prioritised over other recommendations by the National Substance Misuse Strategy Steering Group.
Last February, the Steering group set out 45 proposals to tackle the harm caused by alcohol misuse in Ireland.
The then Junior Health Minister Roisin Shortall was clear in her support for one of the proposals: to end the sponsorship of sporting events by alcohol companies.
Her Successor said he was not rowing back on that commitment but that it was only one of the recommendations made by the group.
“What we’re doing is working through each and every one of them. Sponsorship and advertising will definitely be one of the areas that will be key to the decisions we need to bring forward.
“At the moment I’m taking each of the proposals, working through them and getting them before Government in the next couple of weeks.”
