Unqualified response to expert’s findings

I REFER to Terry Prone’s article (Irish Examiner, October 30) which was prompted by the recent MEAS (Mature Enjoyment of Alcohol in Society) seminar on the cultural and social aspects of alcohol.

MEAS has been operational for almost four years. The Anne Fox seminar referred to by Ms Prone is one of an annual series of conferences/seminars organised by MEAS to promote debate and raise awareness about topics relevant to alcohol and society.

Previous conferences have addressed the issues of partnership, of alcohol and the community, and of alcohol and young people.

This year, as an anthropologist and expert in drug and alcohol issues, Ms Fox was invited to present. She was invited for the very reason that she is a recognised expert in drug and alcohol issues.

Ms Prone does a great disservice to Ms Fox, whom she has never met and with whose work she appears to be entirely unfamiliar.

Ms Fox’s qualifications and experience speak for themselves. She is a consultant on drinking and drug cultures to the British Ministry of Defence, an adviser to the British parliament on alcohol and aggression, has undertaken research with the British Home Office and Justice Board on the nature and prevalence of substance misuse among under-18 offenders, and advises many organisations on alcohol issues.

Ms Fox is the founding director of one of Britain’s leading substance misuse research and education organisations. She has written award-winning educational programmes, numerous articles and a book entitled Alcohol Education, a guide for employers, teachers and other programme developers.

Her company delivers unique substance-misuse educational programmes for teenagers, soldiers, and adults in employment. These programmes have demonstrated very positive results.

Ms Fox’s insights into what defines drinking culture and the factors that can change drinking culture — the seminar topic — offered a thought-provoking perspective on vital issues like underage drinking and excessive drinking. Ms Prone was not at this seminar, yet feels qualified to rubbish it.

Ms Fox was not advocating an approach that “amounts to playing happy families over a few drinks while the parents explain what happens to the teenage brain when it encounters alcohol”. What an appalling caricature from someone who purports to be a communications specialist.

Ms Prone repeats the error of Alcohol Action Ireland when she states it is illegal to give alcohol to anyone under 18. Persons under 18 can drink alcohol at home in Ireland provided they have the explicit consent of a parent or guardian.

One would have thought Ms Prone would have known this given that, as she tells us, some of her “most fascinating clients are master brewers and distillers”.

It is simply being ostrich-like to pretend the problem of teenage drinking will best respond to the prohibitionist approach cited, apparently approvingly, by Ms Prone. A more holistic approach is imperative if we are serious about making progress (rather than making headlines).

Indeed, it would be interesting to know where Ms Prone stands on the matter of how best to tackle the problem of underage drinking. In seeking to rubbish Ms Fox’s experience-based finding that an open, honest approach to the issue of alcohol with their mid-teen children can be a lot more effective than a blind ‘thou shalt not’ one, Ms Prone claims “most teenagers would rather go drink cider out of a bottle in a cesspit with pals than have a glass of wine at the kitchen table with parents”.

So which is the more desirable way forward, and which one would Ms Prone advocate?

Fionnuala Sheehan

CEO

MEAS

Merrion House

1-3 Fitzwilliam St Lwr

Dublin 2