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.