Professor Joe Barry:

One could introduce many by-laws and chase around to enforce things, but the ideal approach is to reduce consumption. There are not enough gardaí to really police many areas. Actions on pricing, limiting availability, marketing and promotion are the strategies that will be effective over time, some more quickly than others. To revert to what Deputy Seán Kenny was saying, we have a national self-esteem issue. The world laughs at us as much as with us. The people being harmed by our alcohol consumption are ourselves and our families. We have an onus to take responsibility for our own. We have a higher public tolerance of drunkenness in Ireland. Behaviour is accepted and laughed at here which would not be tolerated in other countries. We are good at enjoying ourselves. We need to break the link between the enjoyment and alcohol and being drunk. We have too many outlets, it is too cheap and it is promoted too heavily. If those submissions are taken on board, we will have fewer worries about people drinking on trains as they do on the Continent, where they can spend the day sipping alcohol.