Drink culture - Women add worrying new element

IRELAND’S unenviable image as a nation of binge drinkers has traditionally been attributed to men. But in a dramatic social upheaval, women are increasingly emerging as the main victims of this country’s love affair with alcohol.

Typically, binge drinking involves taking six or more drinks in a session but, according to a leading specialist operating at the coal face of this growing crisis, the women who seek residential treatment for alcohol problems generally exceed that level.

What is most alarming is the marked shift in the old trend where men tended to outnumber women with alcohol problems by a ratio of two-to-one.