The failure of successive governments to develop a National Alcohol Policy has had a “devastating” impact on Irish society in general and family life in particular according to Public Health Specialist, Dr Declan Bedford.
Bedford was speaking at the annual Irish Medical Organisation Doolin Lecture in the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, yesterday.
In his lecture he said that Ireland has become a nation of binge drinkers with a dangerous ambivalence towards alcohol and the damage it inflicts on lives across the community.
He said a strong indication of this was the fact that “there are more places where you can buy drink in Ireland than there are shops where you can buy fruit, vegetables or milk”.
Source: Michelle Hennessy, thejournal.ie, 03/12/2012