Alcohol blight is our responsibility

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese has touched a raw nerve by referring to Ireland’s dark love affair with alcohol.

Her description of alcohol addiction as the “blight of all blights” will echo with a bitter ring of truth among families trapped in the living hell of alcoholism, a condition that invariably leaves a trail of wasted lives and heart-breaking damage in its wake.

According to a litany of reports, this country has one of the worst drinking records among European states.

With drink-driving largely to blame for the carnage on Ireland’s roads, it is absolutely crucial to maintain the intensity of the long overdue garda crack-down which, thankfully, is already showing positive results.

Few will dispute the president’s call for Irish people to take responsibility for their excessive drinking instead of by justifying it through linking it with every family and social occasion.