Concerns raised over dial-a-drink services

PRESSURE is being put on the government to address dial-a-drink services which are running in Cork and other parts of the country.

In recent months, Dial-a-Drink services have flourished because of pub closures during the lockdown.

Several such services are currently operating in Cork, mainly delivering alcohol late at night. Customers are ordering alcohol to be delivered during house parties, and field gatherings.

Such services advertise anonymously on social media, giving little details apart from mobile phone numbers.

Now, Sinn Féin's spokesman on Addiction, Recovery and Wellbeing, Thomas Gould, is writing to the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee to call for controls in the sector.

He said: "It came to my attention in the first lockdown - people were concerned about it."

He said that concern centred around the ease which underage people could access alcohol from such services because they are not regulated.  There was also concern that such services were facilitating parties which were in breach of public health Covid-19 guidelines.

Earlier this year, the Alcohol Forum and the Irish Community Action on Alcohol Network launched a campaign highlighting a need for change in the area.

The Deliver Change on Drink Deliveries campaign calls on the Government to bring forward legislation to close a number of legal loopholes and allow for greater regulation of and clarity on a number of issues including point of sale, age verification and hours of both sale and delivery.

Fine Gael Senator Mary Seery-Kearney is also calling for action in the area: “The availability of such a service by unlicensed entities, which could be contributing to the Covid numbers amongst young people, contributes to anti-social behavior in parks and public places where underage drinkers can arrange for drink to be delivered to them by these unscrupulous sellers."