Spending on alcohol here has increased by almost 70 per cent since 1990. According to the Central Statistics Office, £3.2 billion was spent on alcoholic drinks in 1999, compared to £2.2 billion in 1990. The most significant increase was in wine sales, which rose 322 per cent to £542 million in 1999, the most recent year for which figures are available.
In the most recent national health and lifestyle survey, 62 per cent drank alcohol once or twice in a typical week. More than one in 10 people drank five days or more a week.
Among 18 to 34-year-olds, 60 per cent drank on one or two days, and 35 per cent drank three or four days a week. Of those who regularly drank alcohol, men had 6.7 drinks "on a typical drinking occasion", whereas women had on average 4.5 drinks.