New research finds more than 90% of Irish children have been exposed to alcohol advertisements.

Some 77% of children reported exposure to alcohol marketing online, while 61% said they owned alcohol-branded merchandise.

A study carried out by the Health Promotion Research Centre at NUI Galway (NUIG) found that more than half of they surveyed saw four or more alcohol advertisements per day.

Their findings indicate there is widespread exposure to alcohol marketing among children aged 13 and upward.

Dr Patrick Kenny, of the School of Marketing at Dublin Institute of Technology, said more protections should be in place.

"The bottom line is that the current regulatory system does not protect children from exposure to alcohol marketing and this failure is associated with increased consumption", he said.

"In a very real sense, these children are victims of society's failure to protect them and creating an environment where children are free from alcohol marketing is a children’s rights issue that requires immediate attention".

Dr Kenny said that digital alcohol marketing - and in particular social media marketing - is now a central element of the marketing communications mix and needs to be regulated.

"It is worth noting that digital marketing operates largely below the radar of policy makers because they do not form part of the target audience, thus making digital marketing significantly harder to monitor or regulate", he added.

Alcohol Action Ireland, the national charity for alcohol-related issues, has said the introduction of legislation regulating alcohol marketing is a child protection issue.

While Dr Michal Molcho, of the Health Promotion Research Centre at NUIG, told Newstalk Breakfast exposure can range from t-shirts to iPad covers.