Alcohol campaigners are calling for a new national conversation on Ireland’s drinking habits – after a new survey found that the vast majority of people view excess drinking as “just a part of Irish culture.”
The 2019 Drinkaware Index has found that nearly half of Irish adults are either ‘hazardous’ drinkers or at risk of becoming one.
Meanwhile, one-in-five exceed binge drinking levels on a standard drinking occasion.
National conversation
DrinkAware CEO Sheena Horgan said it is high time there was a national conversation about alcohol in Ireland.
“If we want to shift the dial – if we want to change what we are doing – we have to believe it is possible,” she said.
“But we also have to talk about something different, other than just saying, ‘ah we all drink too much’ and just get on with it.
“We need to shift that complacency; we need to have a new national conversation and a new narrative – we need to shift the stereotypes.
“The data is there to show that obviously we have a serious problem with alcohol.”
Hazardous
The survey classified 21% of Irish adults as hazardous drinkers “at increasing risk of dependency.”
It identified a further 23% as being at potential risk of becoming hazardous drinkers.
It also raised concern over the younger generation – warning that over a third of under-25s report binge drinking on a weekly basis.
Meanwhile, some 64% of younger people admitted to drinking as a coping mechanism, far higher than the national average of 50%.
Nearly 98% of respondents said they could not identify the HSE weekly low risk alcohol guidelines.
Guidelines
A person is defined as being a hazardous drinker if they go over the HSEs weekly drinking guidelines.
The HSE recommends limiting alcohol consumption to 17 standard drinks spread out over a week for men and 11 for women.
Binge drinkers – anyone who drinks more than six standard drinks in one sitting – are also defined as drinking hazardously.
A standard drink is equivalent to a half-pint of beer, 100ml glass of wine, or 35.5ml pub measure of spirits.
