Nothing provokes such a bout of national self-righteous self-flagellation than the relationship between Irish people and alcohol. Every Christmas, St Patrick’s Day and Arthur’s Day, the cacophony of condemnation peaks, often accompanied by earnest debates giving the perception that the problem is worse than ever and that nothing short of prohibition will cure the national lust for drink.
The Government is under constant pressure to introduce a minimum price per unit of alcohol and to ban alcohol sponsorship of sporting events.
Last week, the World Health Organisation, which lists Ireland as second only to Austria in terms of binge-drinking, provoked another round of the well-rehearsed arguments on both sides of the alcohol divide between those with a vested interest in tackling the problem head-on and those who want things to stay the way they are.
The WHO’s findings that some 40 per cent of Irish adults engaged in binge drinking over the previous month comes as no surprise. Many Irish adults would not even regard drinking the equivalent of three pints of beer or six small glasses of wine in one setting as binge-drinking, but that is the WHO’s definition.
Source: Ronan McGreevy, Irish Times, 20/05/2014
Safer Student Nights
eBulletin
Poll
