Doctors wary of study showing drop in alcohol consumption

PUBLIC health doctors have called on the Government to face down the drinks industry in the same manner it took on the tobacco industry.

Yesterday, Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) public health specialist Dr Joe Barry said he was sceptical of new research commissioned by the drinks industry which found alcohol consumption had fallen by almost 7% per adult since it peaked in 2001.

“We have a big problem with alcohol but the drinks industry does not think it is a big problem. They are on record as saying it is limited and I think they are wrong there,” he said.

Dr Barry, a member of the National Task Force on Alcohol, said the Government had failed to realise that the public wanted the problem of alcohol tackled.

“The Government have still not copped on that the public want something done to deal with the problem and they would get huge credit if they did,” he said.

Research published yesterday by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI), the representative body for the drinks industry, shows the proportion of consumer spending on alcohol has also declined.

In 1996, the proportion of expenditure on alcohol was 10.8% and, in 2004, that figure had declined to 9%.

The new study, compiled by Anthony Foley of the Business School of Dublin University and based on information supplied by the Revenue Commissioners and the Central Statistics Office, shows that the amount of alcohol consumed per adult (defined as 15 years and older) fell from 14.37 litres in 2001 to 13.39 litres in 2005 — a drop of 6.8%.

DIGI chairman Michael Patten said the new findings highlighted the danger of relying on out-of-date statistics when approaching policy-making.

And Mr Patten pointed out that the report on alcohol published last week by the Joint Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs was based on developments in the 1990s.

“The analysis is seriously handicapped because the data on which it is based is seriously out of date,” he said.

The committee’s report found most Irish drinkers consume almost twice the European average and that in the 10 years to 1999, per capita alcohol consumption in the Republic rose by 41%.

Mr Patten said the drinks industry wanted to play their part in devising constructive policies in tackling the abuse of alcohol by certain sections of the population.