Alcohol consumption has risen by over 41%

Alcohol consumption per capita has increased by over 41 per cent here over the past decade, while it has fallen in most of the EU, a conference on alcohol policy was told yesterday.

Dr Ann Hope, national alcohol policy adviser at the Department of Health, also told the conference, Alcohol Policy - A Public Health Perspective, that our intake of wine had increased by almost 300 per cent, of cider by over 500 per cent and of beer by 26 per cent, in the past decade.

"Between 1989 and 1999 alcohol consumption per capita in Ireland increased by a massive 41 per cent," she said, "while nine of the EU member states showed a decrease and three other countries showed a modest increase of just 5 per cent during the same period."

While spirit sales dipped between 1992 and 1995, "there was a complete reversal in 1996" with a 10 per cent increase.

"Between the years 1998 to 2000 a million additional litres of spirits in pure alcohol was sold each year."

This she put down in part to designer drinks targeted at the younger market, such as Bacardi Breezer and Smirnoff Ice, as well as the popular party drink, vodka and Red Bull. She said those drinkers aged 18 to 34 were most likely to engage in binge drinking. Outlining the harmful effects of increased alcohol consumption, she said that while the number of people killed in road accidents had fallen since 1997 - from 472 to 415 last year - the number killed between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m., the period associated with drink-driving, had "not substantially decreased".

There was a steady increase in the number of assaults and public order offences, the vast majority alcohol-related, since 1995, as well as increases in the level of alcohol-related mortality rates, particularly cirrhosis and accidental falls, since 1990, she continued. She put the increases in the context of Ireland's economic growth over the decade. Opening the conference, the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Martin, announced the establishment of a National Alcohol Strategy Task Force, "to recommend measures to Government to prevent and reduce alcohol-related harm in Ireland".

Chief Supt Catherine Clancy, of the Garda Community Relations section, said crime associated with alcohol, namely public order offences, assaults and intoxication in a public place - had all increased between 1998 and 1999.

"In a survey last year by the Garda Research Unit of 27 divisions, alcohol was a factor in 88 per cent of public order cases, 54 per cent of criminal damage cases, 48 per cent of offences against the person," she said.

Ms Ingeborg Rossow, of the Norwegian Social Research Institute, said the social consequences of alcohol abuse affected third parties. She said the association between heavy drinking and suicide was well established.

"Heavy drinkers have a 5-10 fold higher risk of committing suicide than others and approximately 1-20 per cent of all suicides are committed by heavy drinkers." This gave rise to grief and guilt among loved ones, as well as lost productivity for society as a whole. "Attempted suicide seems to be even more strongly associated with heavy drinking. In Nordic countries it has been shown that heavy drinkers have a more than 20-fold higher risk of attempting suicide."

Examining the links between violence and alcohol consumption, she said a "large international literature" showed these were closely related.

"This is not only among a few heavy drinkers but also among the moderate drinkers who occasionally drink too much."

Policy to prevent alcohol- related violence and suicide should thus aim not only at the relatively few heavy drinkers but should target the entire population.