Survey shows 'very stark' drinking habits of youth

THE EQUIVALENT of 4½ pints of beer, or 1¼ bottles of wine, is consumed by almost a third of 18- to 24-year-old drinkers on a typical night out, a new report on alcohol has revealed.

Minister of State Róisín Shortall described the figures on the drinking patterns of young people as “very stark” and warned of the “extremely significant” impact on their physical and mental health.

“We have a situation where almost three-quarters of that age group regard having at least five standard drinks as the norm . . . and a third of people in that age group consume at least nine standard drinks per session,” she said. Nine standard drinks equates to 4½ pints of beer or 1¼ bottles of wine.

The cross-Border survey, Alcohol Consumption and Alcohol Related Harm in Ireland, is jointly undertaken by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs and the Northern Ireland Department of Health’s public health information and research branch.

It found 71 per cent of male drinkers across all age groups consumed alcohol in a “harmful” manner, while the equivalent figure for women was 44 per cent.

One in five drinkers reported that they had experienced harm to health, work and friendship in the previous 12 months as a result of their drinking. More than a quarter of respondents said that as a result of someone else’s drinking they had experienced harm including family problems, being assaulted and being a passenger with a drunk driver.

The amount of people classified as non-drinkers has fallen from 19 per cent to 13 per cent.

Ms Shortall said she was finalising a memo for Government that would outline proposals to tackle Ireland’s “seriously problematic” alcohol consumption rates.

She confirmed that a deadline of 2016 for phasing out alcohol sponsorship of sporting events had been “relaxed somewhat”. There was general agreement at political level that it was not desirable to have the alcohol industry “so intertwined” in various aspects of Irish life, particularly in the area of sport.

Asked about Diageo’s “Arthur’s Day” celebration being promoted on the Discover Ireland website, she said the concept of “craic” was often associated with drinking large quantities of alcohol.