A review of extended pub opening hours has been called for by the president of the Union of Students in Ireland.
Mr Colm Jordan said this was just one of a number of measures which should be looked at in the context of curbing alcohol consumption.
The Government, he said, should also consider immediately suspending the licences of pubs which sold drink to people who were under the legal age.
Addressing a forum on "Alcohol in Irish Society" in Dublin last night, Mr Jordan said that a report by a Government task force, published last May, had attributed increased consumption of alcohol to rising affluence, increased availability and a failure to substantially increase taxes on alcohol.
The Government had increased the availability of alcohol by extending pub hours, but it had failed to sufficiently increase taxes. Instead, it was moving to ban alcohol advertising, which the task force had found would have a lesser effect on curbing consumption.
The chief executive of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland, Mr Tadg O'Sullivan, said it was naive to suggest that increased consumption was related to longer opening hours.
"Much of this abuse has been on the increase over the past 10 years. Yet many pundits would blame the extended opening hours of two years ago for the explosion in alcohol abuse. That does not make sense. Following the extended opening hours in 2000, there was no increase in either beer or spirit consumption in 2001 - and an actual fall in 2002," he said.
However, he accepted that the drinks industry had its faults. "Some advertisements, particularly on television, leave a lot to be desired . . . Happy hours and cheap promotions serve only to bring the industry and the products into disrepute. We do recognise that we have an enormous responsibility in this area of abuse. And we are beginning to take it extremely seriously."
The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said that some progress had been made in tackling the problem, but a lot remained to be done. He welcomed reports that the GAA was considering ending its sponsorship agreements with drinks companies.