Sir, - Am I the only one who, as an of-age drinker, senses a whiff of hypocrisy from many of your correspondents on this subject? Assuming some of them are drinkers, can any of them state, hand on heart, that it made a difference whether they were drunk at 18 instead of 17? Naturally young people will want to drink before the legal age. That makes it more fun.
Perhaps we should concentrate on the harm that we inflict on society as a whole with alcohol, rather than using the young, who will always want to experiment, as scapegoats. - Yours, etc.,
Godfrey Shaw, Blackhorse Avenue, Dublin 7.