The Minister of State with responsibility for Community Affairs and the National Drugs Strategy, Mr Noel Ahern, has called for the introduction of a special levy on alcohol sales to tackle alcohol abuse.
The money from the proposed levy should be ring-fenced and targeted at alcohol campaigns alone, he said yesterday.
The Minister also proposed that the parents of teenagers admitted to A&E units due to binge drinking should be made to pay the full cost of their child's treatment.
This, he added, would bring home the full reality of the cost and the effects of binge drinking.
Mr Ahern told a conference on tackling alcohol and drugs abuse entitled "Getting a Grip" and hosted by the South Kerry Partnership that there was a mood for tougher action to tackle under-age drinking and to adopt a more "draconian" approach to advertising the dangers of alcohol.
The softly-softly approach of campaigns such as "Less is more" were not working on their own. While hard-hitting ads might offend some people's sensitivities, they did "stick", Mr Ahern said.
Unlike the class distinctions there were with some drugs, drink abuse among the young was not confined to any one class, Mr Ahern said.
The ability of some well-fed middle-class children to consume alcohol was enormous.
Drinking episodes no longer took place in public parks, but in empty houses where young people had got used to their comforts when drinking.
A levy on alcohol sales could be used to fund sporting and other facilities to provide alternatives to the pub, the Minister said.
Dr Mick Loftus, the north Mayo doctor who has been outspoken on the prevalence of alcohol in society, told the conference that the drinks industry is taking over special occasions.
It was exploiting the "excellent"voluntary work of local committees who gave such commitment and energy, he said.
"Hard-headed businessmen do not spend €60 million a year on useless advertising," he said, referring to the advertising spend by the drinks industry in Ireland.
Some €15 million a day was spent on alcohol in Ireland, he said. There was international evidence that the popular approach to tackling alcohol was often not the most effective.
Regulation and enforcement, though unpopular, were far more effective than education and prevention programmes, said Mr Con Cremin, director of Talbot Grove Addiction Treatment Centre, which treats people from the Kerry-Cork-Limerick region. Alcohol accounted for 87 per cent of the addictions treated by the centre.
Ireland was at risk from the liberal policies being pursued in other EU countries, Ms Grainne Kenny, international president of Eurad, the Europe Against Drugs organisation, said.
She criticised MEPs, including Ms Patricia McKenna, for signing a petition to legalise drugs such as cannabis in pharmacies.
"There is no doubt that Ireland, with a population who regularly reach for stupefying substances, whether in the form of alcohol or other drugs, is at great risk from the liberal policies being pursued in neighbouring countries," Ms Kenny said.