It's Sisyphus that comes to mind when listening to junior minister Roisin Shortall speak of how she is going to try and reduce alcohol consumption levels among the Irish.
If you're a little shaky on your Greek mythology, poor ol' Sisyphus was a king punished by being cursed to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll down again, and to repeat this process throughout eternity.
It's really a terrible pity that this is the case because if there was one immensely positive thing any politician could do to improve Irish society it would be to cut our drinking levels.
Roisin is a bright woman, and sounds very sincere in her efforts, but one can't help but conclude that she is destined to abject failure. Let's face it, as a nation we are hopeless when it comes to drink. If we were left without any receptacles at all with which to consume our alcohol, we would, as the saying goes, drink it out of an oul shoe, no matter what the price charged.
Source: Alison O'Connor, Irish Independent, 14/01/2012
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