Coalition criticised for lack of alcohol action

Successive governments have paid "lip service" to tackling the damage caused by alcohol, according to one of the country’s leading authorities on alcohol policy.

Shane Butler said the Government’s 2013 action plan on alcohol was more a “political sop” to public-health experts than an effective policy response and said he was concerned new laws may not be enacted before the next election.

An associate professor at Trinity College Dublin, Dr Butler said Health Minister Leo Varadkar’s decision to shelve plans to phase out sports sponsorship by the alcohol industry was a “political” decision and not, as the minister had claimed, based on the evidence.