Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 17 July 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform

Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (Resumed)

11:10 am

Ms Barbara O'Connor:

I would like to add something to that. Professor Bolger in Beaumount has done some research around the incidence of brain injury and much of it is related to the increase in unprovoked assaults due to alcohol consumption. That comes back to the profile of these 18 to 25 year old men. That is quite a serious problem and he has evidence that there has been a rise in the incidence of such injuries, and we know that, anecdotally, from the newspaper articles. The people we deal with now often come in as a result of alcohol-related incidents.