Alcohol a factor in almost half of murders

ALMOST half of murders committed over a 20-year period were carried out by people who were drunk at the time, according to a Health Service Executive report.

The overview of recent studies found alcohol-related violence is posing an increasing array of problems for society, putting additional demands on already-stretched healthcare services.

The report warns the scale of the problem is continuing to grow, with individual alcohol consumption increasing by 2.7% in 2007 after four years of static figures.