Stop Out-Of-Control Drinking' is not just a well-intentioned aim, it is the name of a public health campaign group. So far, so good. Except it is part-funded by Diageo and, oddly enough for an organisation touchily insisting on its independence, a director of the drinks giant sits on its board. Which leads me to my next point. How about stopping out-of-control lobbying by vested interests - wouldn't that be a more effective strategy?
Clearly, Ireland has a national drink problem, as recent St Patrick's Day revelries illustrate, with the emergency services once again called upon to deal with the fall-out from a series of alcohol-fuelled incidents, accidents and brawls.
Let's not shrug this off as drowning the shamrock and indulge in collective amnesia for another year. Drinking to dangerous excess is embedded in our culture and needs to be prised out. It starts young because it is normalised social behaviour. But the problem criss-crosses the generations, with alcohol-related illness or injury estimated to cost the State some €3.7bn annually.
Government efforts are in hand to address our damaging drinking habits, but there is a legitimate fear that industry capture is undermining them.
We call it lobbying, the industry calls it consultation. We call it conflict of interest, they call it participation. At the root of the conflict between what's good for us and what's good for them is profit maximisation. And here's the rub: how can the alcohol industry, or bodies funded by it, be trusted to promote public policies which must inevitably curb sales?
There is no doubt that inappropriate influence is wielded by alcohol companies, which have a vested interest in profits. Not in measures to reduce consumption. It is counter-intuitive to believe the industry has any genuine interest in reducing sales. Its strategy is to push the problem onto the consumer: 'It's all down to those dreadful, dreadful binge drinkers draining medical and policing resources. They're spoiling it for everyone else.' That's the industry's version of events. A highly simplistic one. Convenient, too.
Source: Martina Devlin, Irish Independent, 19/03/15
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