Cork City to become 'safer' site under new alcohol strategy for Cork and Kerry

Cork is among the counties with the greatest number of alcohol-related liver disease hospitalisations in the country

The strategy aims to reduce harm from alcohol, and prioritises public health, improved health and social outcomes for individuals, families, and communities, and reduced morbidity and mortality from alcohol consumption. File picture: Yui Mok/PA

The most frequent alcohol-related hospitalisations in Cork and Kerry are due to “mental and behavioural disorders” and liver disease, according to an alcohol strategy for the region.

Cork is among the counties with the greatest number of alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) hospitalisations in the country, with the most recent figures recording 511 cases in 2022.

The second alcohol strategy for Cork and Kerry, for the period 2025-2030, said there have been positive developments nationally with the introduction of legislation on minimum pricing, advertising, and structural separation, but that “significant challenges” remain.

These include the “further” delay in health labelling to at least 2028, the “circumventing” of alcohol advertising laws by the widespread marketing of alcohol brands through zero-alcohol products, and online sales of alcohol.

The strategy, launched in Listowel on Wednesday, was developed by HSE South-West, the Cork and Kerry Alcohol Strategy Group, the Southern Drug and Alcohol Taskforce, and the Local Drug and Alcohol Taskforce.

It aims to reduce harm from alcohol, and prioritises public health, improved health and social outcomes for individuals, families, and communities, and reduced morbidity and mortality from alcohol consumption.

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Cork City and Listowel are two of 12 “safer” project sites across the country, based on WHO interventions.

Safer stands for: Strengthening restrictions on alcohol availability; advancing and enforcing drink driving measures; facilitating access to screening, treatment, and brief interventions; enforcing bans or restrictions on alcohol advertising and sponsorship; and raising prices on alcohol through tax.

Strategy chairman Gordon Kinsley said the first strategy focused on getting the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill enacted, which it was in October 2018. He said the introduction of minimum unit pricing, restrictions on alcohol advertising, and structural separation in stores were positive developments.

“However, significant challenges remain,” he said.

There are still a number of measures in the act that have yet to be introduced, including the health labelling of alcohol products, which has now been further delayed until 2028.”

The Government made this announcement last July, citing the alleged impact on alcohol export prices on top of new US tariffs.

Mr Kinsley said: “There has also been a proliferation in the advertising and availability of zero-alcohol products, which enables alcohol companies to continue marketing their brands.

“The online sale and marketing of alcohol products has also increased considerably.”

The report said this government decision and the widespread marketing of zero alcohol products “as a means of circumventing” advertising restrictions suggested a “lack of policy coherence” at government level in talking alcohol consumption and harms.