An opposition TD has spoken about the negative impact of alcohol on her life as she raised concerns about a possible delay in the introduction of health-warning labels on drinks products.
Social Democrats TD Sinéad Gibney told the Dáil she has not drunk alcohol for more than 13 years.
The party’s enterprise spokeswoman was speaking following recent comments from a number of ministers – including Tánaiste Simon Harris, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe and Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke – suggesting the introduction of labelling may be delayed because of the possible impact of US tariffs on the global trade environment.
The labels warn about the risk of liver disease and fatal cancers from alcohol consumption and the risk of drinking while pregnant. They also list the calories in the product and the number of grams of alcohol. The labels are due to come into effect on May 22nd, 2026. Ms Gibney said the measure “has the backing of the entire medical community”.
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Raising the issue during Dáil questions on enterprise, tourism and employment, the Dublin Rathdown TD said: “I haven’t had a drink of alcohol in 13½ years. Alcohol and its negative impacts have played a huge part in my life.
“I say this and I share this because I think there is hardly a family in Ireland which doesn’t have the same experience.”
Minister of State Alan Dillon said labelling is a matter for the Department of Health. “I have a duty to defend the interests of Irish indigenous SMEs who are facing unprecedented global trade pressures,” he said.
The US market counts for nearly 40 per cent of Irish exports and Irish whiskey exports alone are worth nearly €450 million, he added.
The Minister insisted “this is not about undermining public health”. He said “it’s about sequencing policy in a way to protect jobs” and ensure economic resilience in the sector.
Mr Dillon added that the legislation comes at a time when many businesses “are struggling with uncertainty”.
However, Ms Gibney said it is “wrong and unfair to dangle it as a response to tariffs, when it won’t even help those Irish companies because it doesn’t have an impact on exports”.
Holding up one of the health labels, she said: “Distributors are actually already putting the labelling on in anticipation of it. So all this would do is cause confusion if you were to roll it back.”
The legislation has been in the pipeline since 2019 and Ms Gibney said it positions Ireland as a leader in health measures, just as the smoking ban did.
She said “if we kept in step with Europe on the smoking ban, we would still not have a smoking ban”.
But Mr Dillon said “we’re very much committed to a whole-of-a-Government approach to public health, but also to economic sustainability”.
The Minister added: “We would not apologise for standing up for Irish jobs, for Irish businesses within this sector to ensure that we maintain Ireland’s global competitiveness.
“We need to ensure that the well-intentioned regulation does not become, in time, a disrupter to many of these exporters at a time of real uncertainty.”
He said “the national alcohol labelling regulation, while rooted in public health objectives, must be administered in a way that does not jeopardise Ireland’s export-led recovery”.
The drinks manufacturing sector employs more than 5,500 people and is a strategic contributor to the economy, he added.
“What we wanted to do here is not to abandon the public health goals, but we’re asking for a more pragmatic sequencing and economic realism here in terms of its implementation.”
