Government unwilling to take on vested interests in drinks industry
The infamous events at the Phoenix Park have cast a welcome spotlight on Ireland’s drinking culture, but the rush to judgment in some quarters — with everything from dance music to MCD being blamed for the orgy of violence and drunkenness — ignores one salient point: this is nothing new.
The only reason that the public reaction has been so outraged is because the fighting and drinking was shoved in people’s faces when it was transferred from the obscurity of Punchestown to a densely populated area of central Dublin.
