The Green Party has proposed a ban on alochol advertisting on television along with plans to curb the below-cost selling of alcohol to make it less accessible to young people.
The party's health spokesman John Gormley said it was necessary to change the way alcohol is marketed and sold to tackle problems of addiction and binge drinking.
Speaking at the launch of the party's acohol position paper today, Mr Gormley said: "Bank Holiday weekends tend to be a time of over-indulgence in alcohol. We are not saying that people should stay away from the pub but we do need to address the ongoing problems that alcohol related harm has on our society".
He said that since 2004, most of the recommendations of the Strategic Task Force on Alcohol "have been languishing in the Government's filing cabinets". He added that the Government had shelved the Alcohol Products Bill and withdrawn from the Groceries Order, which allows off-licences to sell alcohol at below cost.
The Government promised to introduce a National Recreation Policy by the end of 2006, but so far have failed to do so, he said.
"The Green Party proposes to substantially increase funding for youth-focused and youth-led recreational activities, so that young people have somewhere to go and something to do, away from alcohol-based activities".
The party also proposes to lower the blood alcohol level for licensed drivers to 50mg/ml and reduce level for learner drivers to zero in a bid to cut drink-related road deaths and injuries.
Justice spokesperson Ciaran Cuffe said: "Ireland should look to countries such as Italy for ways to tackle binge-drinking. Their rate of binge-drinking is only 2 per cent compared to 34 per cent in Ireland. Most of their bars serve decent food all day, and people tend to eat while drinking.
"In Ireland many of our traditional pubs have been replaced by super-pubs that use all the tricks of the trade to encourage alcohol consumption".