Drink alcohol responsibly may be the injunction, but too many Irish people drink to excess and their consumption is “out of control”. The economic costs and human consequences of excessive drinking are well documented. The damage to health can be seen in the increased number of deaths from liver cirrhosis. And the risk to life is apparent, both in the number of road fatalities and the many other accidents and incidents where alcohol was a major contributory factor. These developments are hardly surprising. For, as Prof Frank Murray, a gastroenterologist, has pointed out: “In Ireland we now consume twice as much as we did 50 years ago.”
As a society we have been quick to recognise the alcohol problem, but slow to address it, and to change our drinking habits. Will the latest campaign to stop “out of control” drinking make any difference? There are obvious grounds for doubt. For where a campaign to stop excessive drinking is paid for by a drinks company, Diageo, some public scepticism seems quite justified.
Source: Irish Times, 20/02/15
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