Professor Joe Barry:

They have broken the link in terms of on-campus promotions of alcohol by the industry. There is a great deal of work being done now to provide support to heavy-drinking students. The last time a survey was carried out, Irish students were found to spend more money on alcohol than food. There are measures in the university I work in and at others to limit the availability of alcohol, particularly cheap alcohol. There is always a balance to be struck. We in public health are often accused of being killjoys and we must get the balance right. Some of the upstream measures we are discussing will have an impact. Universities are working on getting non-drinking students to act as peers for their heavy-drinking colleagues. There are brief interventions available which have been shown to be effective in limiting the harms people do by their own drinking. There is a treatment approach.