New figures show that alcohol volumes in Ireland have dropped by 4.4% in the past 12 months.

Ireland operates as a “conveyor belt” for the alcohol industry with 60,000 children starting to drink every single year, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny needs to “give leadership” in tackling alcohol abuse and persuade ministers resisting change “to play their part”, former drugs minister Roisín Shortall has said.

IN his foreword in the National Substance Misuse Strategy steering group report, released last February, group chairman Dr Tony Holohan spoke of Ireland’s “long and sometimes difficult association with alcohol”.

Sparks flew at the launch of a Government expert group’s report on alcohol, as representatives of the drinks industry accused the group of “effectively suppressing” its views and labelled members of being “ideologically prejudiced”.

The Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland (ABFI) has said that a report released today on how to reduce the alcohol intake in Ireland is "a missed opportunity" to address the issue of alcohol misuse.

The Government should consider banning outright the sale of alcohol in supermarkets, shops and garages if a statutory code on the area did not work.

A GROUP campaigning against cheap alcohol prices has welcomed Government plans to introduce an alcohol price “floor”.

SUPERMARKETS cannot accept money from the alcohol trade without accepting the responsibility for the heartbreak cheap alcohol brings.

THERE has been a 150% jump in the number of juveniles seeking treatment for alcohol in the last six years, figures show.

MINIMUM prices for each unit of alcohol and specific warnings on content are among the considerations in a major report due to be delivered to the Minister for Health.

ENTERPRISE Ireland is hoping its new five-year development strategy for the country’s indigenous software industry will drive combined revenue in the sector past the €2.5 billion mark by 2013.

Google and the Irish Software Association (ISA) have set up a scheme to help small companies better exploit the potential of the internet in marketing their business.