We must act on underage drinking

Over the past decade this country had the highest per capita rise in alcohol consumption in the European Union.

We have a particularly young age profile, so that ranking may not be all that surprising, but what is frightening is that the level of consumption here rose by about eight times more than any other country in the period.

The National Off-Licence Association established a Responsible Trading in the Community scheme yesterday to help tackle the problem of underage drinking by formally training members of the association on the best way to communicate to the public their commitment to trading responsibly in the community. They plan to send young people into their accredited outlets on a regular basis to ensure that they are being asked for identification.

Any initiative that highlights the problem of underage drinking should be warmly welcomed, but there has already been enough talk and more action is needed.

Tackling the problem effectively will require a multi-faceted approach.

The chairman of the Commission on Liquor Licensing called over the weekend for schoolchildren to be educated on the dangers of alcohol. But educational authorities have contended that there is no room in the curriculum. It is a matter of priorities.

In September 2000, the Garda Siochána introduced an identification card scheme so that people over 18 could demonstrate their age, but this has been taken up by only about 20% of the 350,000 people eligible. However, the other 80% are not the problem.

Those who sell the alcohol to minors are causing the problem. If they fulfilled their obligation of ensuring that those purchasing alcohol were of age, it would go a long way towards solving the problem.

Most European countries already have a national ID card, and the National Off-Licence Association argues that the system should be made mandatory here.

When the licensing laws were changed to extend the opening hours a couple of years ago, a provision was attached to the Bill stipulating that bottles and cans of alcohol should be marked in order to help the gardaí identify the seller, if young people were caught consuming the drink. But this aspect of the legislation has not been implemented because of difficulties over marking individual cans or bottles in a pack.

The practical move would be to label the pack, and if this proves insufficient, they could decide then what to do next. Doing absolutely nothing, on the other hand, raises questions about the real commitment of the authorities to tackle the issue.

A label would not, of course, be proof that a specific bar or off-licence sold the drink to the minor. A friend with a valid ID might have purchased it, or the children might have just taken some drink purchased by their parents. But if the drink were labelled, it would be easier to trace it.

Since the legislation was passed there have been 103 convictions, with 82 temporary closure orders against premises for selling alcohol to minors. The Minister for Justice Michael McDowell noted, however, that a large number of those closures occurred in Mayo and very few in Dublin.

Are the authorities serious about tackling the problem on a national scale? The law is unlikely to be effective until the courts demonstrate their determination by revoking an offender’s licence to sell alcohol.