Irish teens among worst binge drinkers in EU
The report shows that Irish and Estonian teenagers are becoming "blind drunk" more often than those of any other member state.
It reveals that teenagers, and in particular young Irish girls, drink large amounts of alcohol several times a month, and the average age for the first drink has fallen from 15 years for the parent generation to 11.8 years for the teenagers of today.
Irish adults are also the most frequent binge drinkers, with 48% of men and 16% of women here binge drinking at least once a week.
The report was carried out by the London Institute of Alcohol Studies on behalf of the European Commission, and will underpin an EU alcohol strategy which will be published in the coming months.
So far, the EU does not have any common alcohol policy, but during the Irish presidency, health ministers agreed that tighter controls were needed.
Europeans drink twice as much as people of any other continent, and alcohol is responsible for 600,000 deaths a year, making it the third biggest killer after smoking and high blood pressure.
The commission does not have legislative powers in public health matters. But an EU directive lays down minimum rates of duty for different products, and this is expected to be raised in the case of alcohol.
Discussions on the alcohol strategy have identified a price increase as a key way of curbing the trend of binge drinking among teenagers. The commission has invited the European Council, the EU parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee to discuss a special rate of excise duty on specific alcoholic beverages that are proved to cause harmful consumption, particularly among young people.
A Department of Finance spokeswoman said such recommendations "would be taken on board" but this could only be done through the Budget.
"It would be discussed by the minister at council meetings, and the ultimate decision would be made in conjunction with other member states," she said.
There was no tax added to alcohol in the last Budget, and last week, a survey of attitudes to alcohol found that 54% of the Irish public would support more taxes.
Labour finance spokeswoman Joan Burton said there is a strong case for increasing the cost of drink.
"Cheap drink has become more available to kids and this is fuelling anti-social behaviour," she said.
Ms Burton said the issue of below-cost selling in supermarkets also needs to be addressed. "This time last year, cans of beer cost at least 1 or more, but with competition and heavy promotion, you can get them for a lot cheaper, and especially if you buy them in big boxes."
Licensed Vintners Association chief executive Donall O'Keeffe said our taxes are already too high.
"We have the highest taxes on alcohol in Europe by a country mile, and we are considerably above the European average in all categories wine, beers and sprits," he said.
"This has been the case for 15 or 20 years now and has done nothing to resolve our alcohol problem, so it's not going to do so now."
