Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

There is no denying the extent of under age drinking in Ireland. However, the problem of drinking is not restricted to under age or young categories but affects all age groups. The Health Behaviour in School Aged Children survey, published in 1999, found that over half of young people begin experimenting with alcohol before the age of 12. In the younger age groups, under 15 years, more boys than girls are current drinkers, but by the time they reach the 15 to 16 age group, statistics show that half of girls and two-thirds of boys are current drinkers.

It is not only the extent of under age drinking which is of concern but also the pattern of drinking, in particular the level of binge drinking and drunkenness. One third of the 15 to 16 age group reported binge drinking three or more times in the last month and one-quarter reported having been drunk three or more times in the last month. The adverse effects of this type of alcohol use in social and medical terms are well known and documented.

Ireland has had the highest increase in alcohol consumption among European Union member states in the past ten years. We experienced a massive 41% increase in per capita alcohol consumption between 1989 and 1999. Three other member states showed a modest increase while ten showed a decrease. Ireland's consumption continued to increase in 2000 and we now rank second after Luxembourg.

While the country as a whole continues to drink alcohol in greater and greater quantities we cannot expect to tackle in isolation the issue of the misuse of alcohol by under age drinkers. We must accept that drinking by young people does not exist in a vacuum; it is influenced by society as a whole. We all have a responsibility to examine our drinking patterns in this light.

The urgency with which we must tackle this problem is clearly seen from the indicators of alcohol related harm. Binge drinking and drunkenness lead to a wide range of problems. Poor school performance, accidents, relationship and delinquency problems are common in young binge drinkers. A study among school-going Irish teenagers reported that 35% of the sexually active respondents said that alcohol was an influencing factor in their engaging in sexual activity. Alcohol use has been identified as one of the main risk indicators in relation to teenage pregnancy.

Unprotected sex also gives rise to increased risk of sexually transmitted infections. Among a group of 32 teenage girls attending a sexually transmitted infection clinic, almost half reported that they had unprotected sex on at least one occasion when drunk. During the past decade the incidence of sexually transmitted infection has increased by 165%.