Simon Harris: ‘Use HSE for sound advice on alcohol’

Simon Harris, the health minister, is urging people to use the HSE as a source of information so they can make “informed decisions” about their drinking instead of using the alcohol-industry funded Drinkaware website.

Drinkaware.ie has come under fire from campaigners in recent years, including from Alcohol Action Ireland, but has consistently stressed that its aim is to prevent and reduce alcohol misuse in Ireland, using “evidence-led education and effective communications”.

Earlier this month, Drinkaware said it had seen a “massive surge” in traffic to its website from people seeking information on how to curtail their drinking using its drinks calculator.

Mr Harris has now written to media outlets asking that they steer away from using Drinkaware as a source of information when reporting on alcohol-related issues, as Irish people continue to be among the heaviest drinkers in the world.

He said that “in an era where misinformation and disinformation” are rife, the public must be able to “access evidence-based information”.

“I am writing to ask you to consider using the HSE’s askaboutalcohol.ie information resource for the public when providing information about alcohol, and to do so instead of using alcohol-industry funded resources. Askaboutalcohol.ie was developed as part of the policy response to the considerable burden of health, social, and economic harm at individual, family, and societal levels that is caused by the way we consume alcohol here,” wrote Mr Harris.

“Alcohol consumption remains high in Ireland. We are the fourth heaviest drinking nation in the OECD in terms of quantity of alcohol consumed and, according to World Health Organisation measures, more than half of adult drinkers in the population are classified as harmful drinkers.

In relation to children, data published in March 2019 shows that Ireland has the third-highest levels of adolescent binge drinking in the world at 61% for female adolescents, and 58.8% for males.

Mr Harris’s letter referred to how, “in an era where misinformation and disinformation are challenges for our society, that the public can access evidence-based information from sources they can trust, and where there is optimal clarity and transparency about both the information provided and the source providing.

“We are all aware of critical health issues where this is an ongoing challenge, for example in relation to vaccinations,” he wrote.

“In this context, I hope that you will reconsider using alcohol-industry funded source of information and use the HSE resources instead to support the public in making informed decisions.”

There was a 58% rise in the number of people visiting the Drinkaware website in the first two weeks of December compared to the same period in 2018 and almost 20,000 people in two weeks used the Drinkaware Drinks Calculator to understand their drinking habits.

The organisation has described itself as “the national charity working to prevent and reduce alcohol misuse in Ireland”.

CEO Sheena Horgan, said at the time: “The impact Drinkaware has on driving a new national conversation and challenging Ireland’s problematic social norm regarding alcohol, as well as the charity contributing to positive change by encouraging and enabling people to consume less, is evident in these figures.”