Tony Kett (Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Minihan for sharing his time. That we are having this debate is a sad reflection on our society. It is high time we as a nation accepted we have a serious problem with alcohol. It is shameful that we have had the highest increase in alcohol consumption in Europe in the past decade. Many of us enjoy a drink and drink sensibly. However, an attitude has crept in that it is macho to go out and get blasted or binge drink on a Friday or Saturday and to boast the following day about how many drinks one had and how well one was able to handle one's drink.

During the 1990s average alcohol consumption in Ireland increased by 42% per person while in ten of our European partners there was a decrease in alcohol consumption. In 2001, Ireland was ranked second only to Luxembourg in terms of alcohol consumption — we were consuming 11.4 litres per person of pure alcohol when the average in Europe at that time was 9.1 litres.

The problem stems from the fact that people here start drinking at a very early age. Drinking patterns have been influenced by a number of factors. Children now have more money in their pockets and more disposable income. There is a stronger focus on consumerism, and the marketplace and the consumer are well and truly hand in hand. It would appear 18 to 25 year olds are most influenced because they are more likely to engage in binge drinking. We are told that binge drinking for a female is drinking five drinks in a row and for a male it is seven drinks. People who have been drinking all their lives can go out and enjoy a social drink a number of days during the week. In binge drinking, people lose total control of themselves. They empty the contents of their stomachs on the streets of the city or town wherever they are, and fall over. They engage in rows and suffer alcoholic poisoning. In the following days I suppose they boast about how much they drank and how well they held it. We saw a shocking example some months ago on "Prime Time" of a young girl falling around not knowing where she was. What could or might have happened to her is only for others toknow.

This type of drinking is bad enough but we also have a serious problem with 15 and 16 year olds drinking. Almost three quarters of them have drunk alcohol at least once a month, one third admit to binge drinking on three or more occasions a month and a quarter will have drunk on three or four occasions in any month. That is a shocking statistic. Adults, particularly, must now address this problem. There is widespread reluctance to do so because we fear being known as killjoys. Young people are afraid of being called wimps if say they will not drink at this rate because it is not good for them.

Hitherto, parents underestimated the damage that alcohol does. Many say they do not mind their children having a drink because they think that is better than taking drugs. It is high time we realised this is a drug and it is being taken in a more widespread and acceptable way than other drugs. The Government has made some progress but needs to do more, for example, by establishing the strategic task force to study the problem. The Intoxicating Liquor Act 2003 and the Public Order Bill have been introduced to tackle the problem of drinking and its aftermath. We must take our heads out of the sand as parents and teachers, and accept that as a nation we have a serious drinking problem and do something about it.