Boozing crisis - Alcohol abuse must be tackled

THE unenviable reputation of Irish people, including young children, as Europe’s biggest boozers can no longer be dismissed as a popular myth.

It is amply borne out by a major study showing alcohol abuse is costing the country a staggering €2.65 billion a year in absenteeism and illness.

The drink-related problems which are besetting society are so grave that a strategic task force wants the Government to implement no less than 78 recommendations, including higher taxes on drink, in order to tackle the booze crisis.

From a political viewpoint, however, the controversial proposal is probably a non-runner despite the proven effectiveness of higher prices as a means of curbing consumption, a fact illustrated by the fall-off in the sale of spirits last year following an excise duty hike.

Loading even more duty on the price of a pint would be virtual suicide for a government already coming under severe criticism for standing idly by when the price of virtually everything was going through the proverbial roof, giving Ireland yet another unenviable reputation, this time as the rip-off capital of Europe.

While Health Minister Micheál Martin is fully aware of the horrific price society is paying for alcohol abuse, he also knows that any increase in excise duty would make it even more prohibitive to drink with a meal when eating out, which is already the most expensive country in Europe. Hard-pressed punters pay the second-highest duty on beer and spirits and the highest for wine in Europe.

Despite its tangible effect as a deterrent, there are many arguments for the Government not to agree to the tax increase being sought by the Strategic Task Force on Alcohol.

Apart from its negative impact on tourism, coming hard on the heels of the smoking ban, the Coalition would be going one step too far down the road of the nanny-state by jacking up the price of drink to any significant degree.

That we are a nation of binge drinkers is a stark reality. The report shows conclusively that out of every 100 drinking occasions, 58% of men and 38% of women end up binge-drinking.

For the record, that means knocking back either a bottle of wine, seven measures of spirits or four points of beer. This is far in excess of any other European country.

Aside altogether from the sheer scale of the overall crisis, the most worrying aspect of the latest survey, one of a series on society’s abuse of alcohol, is undoubtedly the shocking extent of youth-drinking going on around the country.

This crisis is largely a cultural problem, one which, as Mr Martin points out, is deeply rooted in indifference, a laissez faire attitude to alcohol.

Nobody will deny the minister’s contention that it is absolutely essential to target the problem of drinking among young people.

Mr Martin’s suggestion that children should be denied access to alcohol until they reach the age of 15 at the earliest would be a plausible way to transform cultural attitudes.

While the drinks industry is strongly opposed to any increase in excise duty, it supports the recommendation that national identity cards be introduced to tackle underage drinking.

There is no doubt that drinking alcohol at an early age brings with it enormous problems in later life.

The Strategic Task Force on Alcohol has turned the spotlight on a crisis with major social, economic, and public health implications that must be addressed by teachers, parents, politicians and publicans.