Mr. Anthony Foley:

The first thing, which we never talk about given gender politics, is that if one goes back 40 years, by and large, women did not go into pubs. They might have had a glass of sherry whereas now they are equal partners in the drinking culture. That, in itself, has driven up average measures of consumption per head. People are consuming at a younger age and are probably consuming larger volumes at a younger age. Many of us might have tried alcohol when we were 13 or 14 years of age but we would not have had the money to do so regularly.

There is another feature which is fundamentally different. I am displaying my age but my father liked his pint but he would never drink in the house, except at Christmas. Why would one drink in the house when one could go to the pub? It is now more usual to consume alcohol at home, particularly wine. Wine now accounts for one quarter of all alcohol consumed and approximately 80% of that is consumed at home as opposed to in hotels, restaurants, pubs and so on.

There have been changes, particularly in home consumption. That has been widened with the regulatory environment - drink driving, the smoking ban and so on. Much more alcohol is being consumed at home where children may see that happening more than in the pub.

The bottom line conclusion is that much more alcohol is consumed in an unregulated environment where no one measures the measure, no one counts the number of drinks one has had and there is no cash register ticking as one buys another round. That has increased the pressure to consume alcohol. There have been very significant changes over the longer term in the consumption pattern.