Blame game to the fore in alcohol abuse death

It is high time society took responsibility for a culture increasingly fuelled by drink

SO WHEN will the tipping point come for greater personal responsibility in Irish society’s engagement with alcohol? Much public and media discourse this week has focused on how our legal system dealt with the case of the death of 26-year-old Graham Parish from acute alcohol intoxication.

As a society we’re looking to attribute blame. Judge Tom Teehan spoke of individual responsibility. Alcohol advocacy agencies talked about the need for greater government focus and the fast tracking of the Sale of Alcohol Bill to codify existing legislation, some of which dates back to the 1800s.

Vintners’ bodies pointed the finger in part at the increase in off-trade drinking, while legal experts debated the judge’s interpretation, and called for more coherent licensing laws.

Yet, perhaps the most poignant comment came from the Parish family, who sought to blame no one. “We hope this case will highlight the dangers of drink and if it can prevent any more deaths, we feel Graham’s death was not in vain,” they said.

Parish died because of blissful ignorance that pervades sections of Irish and UK society about the toxicity of alcohol. Collective ignorance of the potentially lethal effects of the drug continues to kill many in Ireland annually.

It’s what killed 19-year-old University College Cork arts student Gary Murphy in 2010 when, as a dare from his friends, he drank half a litre of vodka having consumed more than 10 cans of beer earlier. Murphy was in an apartment when he died, where no conscientious publican or stricter licensing law could intervene and control the amount he was consuming.

As dispensers of this potentially lethal narcotic, we look to our publicans to take a particular duty of care when dealing with their customers. Legally, we demand it and apply penalties on them if they serve anyone who is intoxicated. But unless bar owners and their customers are made aware of the dangers of alcohol, then society has little chance of preventing another untimely young death.

Given that the majority of drinking in Ireland occurs away from bars, vintners’ associations and individual publicans have often argued that there is no one in the home to prevent a person drinking more or to excess.

But surely, at the very least, Parish’s death and the subsequent acquittal of those who served him and his friends, undermines that argument and raises questions about how we legally frame the interaction between server and served in Irish bars? Would the same legal outcome have resulted in the United States for instance, where the duty of care is more onerous and responsibility rests with bar workers in respect of those to whom they serve alcohol?

Had the manslaughter charge been upheld in Tipperary, then perhaps we would be facing a future where Irish bar workers would have felt obliged to breathalyse customers before serving them.

Would that be such a bad thing?

Some years ago, publicans did recognise deficiencies in staff training and, with the help of the Department of Health, initiated a Responsible Serving of Alcohol programme. To date, more than 12,000 bar workers have taken up the training.

The training, though, is expected to cover a wide range of issues from alcohol and the law, to the effects of alcohol on the body. It also remains an entirely voluntary programme.

This isn’t the case in many parts of the US, for example, where the Beverage Service Training programme runs. In many jurisdictions, incentives are provided for retailers and publicans who adopt the programme, while in some cases it can limit damages in any future lawsuit or lower the public liability insurance premises have to pay. Also, where publicans have been found to breach licensing laws, they are often forced into training programmes before regaining their permits. It’s these types of incentives we need to adopt to help better educate and encourage licence-holders to become fully au fait with the dangers alcohol poses.

In fact, a comprehensive programme already exists here. It was set up in Cork city by Dr Chris Luke at the Mercy hospital almost a decade ago. It provides on-site training for bar workers, takes three days to deliver and involves a range of professionals. There was scope to roll the service out nationally, but lack of funding meant it never happened.

So, who is ultimately responsible for deaths like those of Parish and Murphy?

We may as well point the finger at those who decided the Queen’s trip should include a visit to a brewery, or our uncle and aunt, the next time we laugh at them getting drunk at a family gathering. Blame teachers for not prompting an honest dialogue about alcohol in schools, or parents for introducing underage drinking in homes. Blame the church and colonisation. Blame the Government for not banning below-cost sales, curbing alcohol advertising or failing to raise the drinking age. Blame Saint Patrick’s Day and tourist bodies and businesses who cynically trade off our boozed-up image.

Blame poverty, social isolation and national emotional reticence. Blame pubs, garages, off-licences, restaurants, supermarkets, bar-workers and other drinkers. Blame the media, Irish sporting bodies and the weather.

We can point the finger at whomsoever we like. But if society is serious about preventing needless deaths, we need to start by blaming no one but ourselves.

Brian O’Connell is a journalist and author of

Wasted: A Sober Journey Through Drunken Ireland

. Twitter: oconnellbrian