Roisin Shortall urges Varadkar to take action on pregnancy drinking

The Government has been accused of doing far too little to tackle alcohol consumption by pregnant women, which causes life-long medical problems for children.

Former junior health minister Roisín Shortall accused current Health Minister Leo Varadkar of treating the matter as “something of no consequence” after he said in a parliamentary question that the Department of Health does not know how many people are affected by Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), nor would he commit resources to improving education and screening in the area.

FASD refers to a group of conditions that can occur in a person whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy.