A panel of senior medics is likely to recommend a crackdown on drunk and disorderly behaviour in public as part of plans to tackle the issue of problem drinking.
A national policy group has been formed within the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, and brings together experts from bodies including the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine and the Irish College of General Practitioners.
The 12-strong panel will work on its recommendations over the summer and said it will publish its conclusions in September.
The chair of the new policy group is Prof Frank Murray, registrar of the RCPI, and consultant gastroenterologist at Beaumont Hospital, who said he and his colleagues were seeing the effects of alcohol abuse every day.
"We see the reality of people injured, disabled, or dying on a daily basis in some of our cases," he said.
Restrictions on availability, pricing, advertisements and sponsorship are among the issues that will be reviewed, and Prof Murray admitted many of those issues were already being considered by Government.
However, he said there were other areas that also needed to be explored. "I think the enforcement of legislation and our tolerance of drunk and disorderly behaviour [should be looked at]," he said. "If you visit other jurisdictions you do not see the same number of drunk people on the street."
Source: Noel Baker, Irish Examiner, 31/07/12
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