Drink sale reform - Alcohol is still most abused drug

The appointment of the six-man group of experts to consider the implications and effectiveness of our current legislation governing the sale and availability of alcohol should be warmly welcomed.

Justice Minister Brian Lenihan freely admits there are implications for public health and public order that need to be addressed promptly.

The advisory group is chaired by Gordon Holmes, who was chairman of the Commission on Liquor Licensing. It includes a Garda chief superintendent, a professor of criminology, and representatives from the Health Service Executive, and the Department of Health and Children and the Department of Justice, Equity and Law Reform.

They will examine the implications of the increased numbers of supermarkets, convenience stores and other public outlets that are allowed to sell alcoholic products, and the conditions under which they are permitted to sell them.

The group will also examine the proliferation of special exception orders that permit longer opening hours by public houses and clubs.

There is little doubt that the abuse of alcohol among young people, especially binge drinking, has been responsible for an explosion of public order offences throughout the country.

Questions about the drinking age, and the availability of drink to people underage, must be examined closely.

Of course, this should not obscure the necessity to educate young people at home on the dangers of the abuse of alcohol. Hence, there are issues that need to be tackled about the culture that has developed around drinking.

For too long drunks have been portrayed as comic characters, rather than the tragic figures they become for their families and society in general. Ultimately there are criminal, social and health implications that must be considered.

It does not make much sense to force public houses to close, and compel customers to leave a controlled environment, and at the same time allow them to go to a nearby supermarket — or even next door — to purchase more drink to be consumed in a relatively uncontrolled environment. It makes even less sense to have convenience stores attached to petrol stations selling alcohol at any hour. These have implications that have to be examined.

There has been considerable public anxiety about the impact of drugs like cocaine and heroin on our society, both from a health and criminal perspective. There is no doubt that such drugs have fuelled criminal gangs, but alcohol is the drug that is still most abused.

For too long people have ignored the implications of the fact that alcohol is a dangerous drug, and those dangers should not be dismissed flippantly. “There is a lot of evidence that alcohol is the gateway drug in the Ireland that we live in today for the more serious drugs that we see abused,” Mr Lenihan warned.

He made it clear that he is not against casual drinking.

He should be congratulated for recognising the need to tackle the irresponsibility of binge drinking and its ramifications for both public health and public order.