Binge danger warning with 24-hour drinking

Twenty-four-hour drinking in Northern Ireland pubs could be introduced within two years it was revealed today – as an addiction expert warned of round-the-clock binge dangers.

The Department of Social Development confirmed a public consultation on extended opening hours would be launched next month.

It is intended any changes will come into effect in 2007.

Ahead of the consultation was a warning that drinkers in the North were incapable of handling round-the-clock availability of alcohol and it would become “24-hour bingeing”.

Legislation is already in place in England and applications for extended licenses are being made by pubs and clubs in time for the pre-Christmas party season.

But Victor Robinson, an addiction expert and lecturer at the University of Ulster’s School of Nursing warned against replicating the rule changes in Northern Ireland.

Mr Robinson said: “I am petrified at the potential consequences for Northern Ireland if 24-hour drinking comes to the North.

“Our psyche is not equipped to handle the 24-hour availability of alcohol. We are not a Mediterranean people, and have not been socialised into the respect for alcohol those cultures have.”

He warned: “In my judgment, 24-hour availability of alcohol in Northern Ireland will mean the introduction of 24--hour bingeing, not a new age of temperance and moderation.”

There was a time when a high percentage of people in Northern Ireland did not drink alcohol at all, largely because of religious beliefs – Catholic society had the Pioneers and the Temperance movement was strong among Protestants, he said.

But those days were gone and there was an increasing trend for young people and women to drink, he said, warning that alcohol and addictions presented major challenges to Northern Ireland society.

The UK was anecdotally known as the binge drinking capital of Europe, and bingeing was on the increase throughout Northern Ireland, he said.

“We need to find ways to affect people’s psyches, to interrupt the habits and behaviours that make them decide when and how much they drink.

“We are almost breeding young people to drink heavily from the word go,” said Mr Robinson.

He added: “It may take a generation before we can successfully change the psyche, to readjust people’s thinking to appreciate that alcohol is not to be gorged: it’s not for bingeing.”

Not enough attention was being given to the challenges of alcohol in society, he said.

Drugs other than alcohol were currently the “sexy issue” and as a result not enough attention was being paid to the fact “we live in an increasingly alcohol-saturated society,” said Mr Robinson.

Alcohol Concern, the UK's national agency on alcohol misuse, expressed its own reservations about extending opening hours in the North.

“Given the prevailing drinking culture, extending licensing hours are more likely to turn our town centres in Faliraki than Florence,” said Geethika Jayatilaka, director of policy and public affairs at Alcohol Concern.

She said: “In theory the aims of extended opening hours are worthy – reducing crime and disorder and tackling the binge-drinking culture.”

But she warned: “In practice, changes may well increase crime and disorder rather than curb it – putting more pressure on police and struggling emergency services.”

The Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland sounded its own warning. It said evidence from the US, Australia and Europe suggested longer licensing hours meant increased alcohol-related problems.

Public health expert Victoria Creasy said: “Northern Ireland has already seen an increase in binge drinking , with all its associated problems, in the past few years and longer opening hours is the last thing we need.”