Déirdre de Búrca (Green Party)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Carey, to the House and thank him for his response to the all-party motion which demonstrates the serious concern among all Members about the epidemic of alcohol misuse and illegal drug use in society. The Minister of State warned against exaggeration of the problem, and perhaps "epidemic" is a strong word to use, but when we examine society today and compare it with that of a generation or two ago — although everything is relative — the level of alcohol misuse and illegal drug use does appear to be of epidemic proportions. There were always subsections of the population, especially its younger members, who experimented with drugs or over-indulged in alcohol, but now it appears that binge drinking and the regular use of recreational drugs such as cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy are fairly standard practice for many young people, which is the real issue of concern.

I will start by concentrating on alcohol misuse because alcohol is the drug of choice for Irish people and it is one about which we have a blind spot, perhaps because we have always tolerated high levels of use. The starting point is the culture of alcohol use and misuse in this country. We have a lenient and tolerant attitude towards excessive consumption of alcohol. This needs to change. It is almost a rite of passage nowadays for young people anywhere between the ages of 12 and 16 to binge drink, get drunk and almost throw up. That is the initiation into the world of alcohol consumption. From then on it becomes an habitual behaviour. Young people go out and engage in binge drinking, sometimes combining this with poly-drug use in which they experiment with different forms of recreational drugs. We can see from recent incidents, as mentioned by other Senators, how dangerous these mixtures of alcohol and drugs can be.

We must start by tackling the culture of tolerance towards the excessive consumption of alcohol. That is where the education and public awareness campaigns come in. I agree with other Senators that we need to make them relevant and credible for young people by using language and role models with which they can identify. We must start to change attitudes towards alcohol misuse.

The culture of smoking that used to prevail in this country has undergone a major change. Smoking was widespread and highly accepted, but now smoking in public places is often frowned upon. We have revolutionised attitudes towards smoking in the space of about 20 years. We can do the same in the area of alcohol misuse and drug use if we adopt the same approach and encourage a different set of attitudes towards the use of these substances.

I will mention a few shocking statistics on both alcohol misuse and substance abuse in our society. One in four patients attending accident and emergency units in hospitals present with alcohol related problems. Public order offences have increased by 247% and assaults have increased by 82% since 1996, which has been linked to increasing alcohol consumption. Alcohol was a factor in 36.5% of all fatal vehicle crashes in 2003, and in 38% of fatal pedestrian accidents in the same year pedestrian alcohol use was a factor. Men binge drink on 58 drinking occasions out of every 100, while women binge drink on 30 occasions out of every 100. In 2005, 83% of 14 to 17 year olds drank alcohol, and the average age at which people started to drink was 12. Almost one third of 15 to 16 year old students had binged three or more times in the previous 30 days. Under age Irish girls have the highest rate of binge drinking in Europe. There has been a 390% increase since 1996 in intoxication among under age drinkers in public places. This is why we use strong words such as "epidemic" when describing this problem. When we consider the combined impact of all these different statistics, we can see we have a serious problem on our hands.

Other Senators have suggested policy measures that would go some way towards tackling these problems. An education programme and raising awareness is one of the starting points in addressing our cultural attitudes towards alcohol misuse and drug abuse but we also must take other action. The proposed reduction in the levels of alcohol permitted for drivers is welcome and perhaps in time we would introduce a zero tolerance policy for alcohol and the combination of drinking and driving.

An issue raised frequently this year, particularly in the run-up to the general election, is the need for facilities for young people such as youth cafes that would be alcohol free but allow young people an opportunity to socialise together in safe, fun places but without the presence of alcohol. That would be an essential step in trying to address the culture of alcohol abuse among young people.

We also need a code of practice on the sale of alcohol in off-licences and much higher penalties for the sale of alcohol to or the purchase of it for young people. The penalties under the public order Act must be increased for alcohol related disorders because there has been an alarming increase in alcohol related public order offences, particularly in recent years.

As far as drug abuse is concerned, we must introduce roadside testing for drugs that are commonly abused. When drivers are stopped they are tested for alcohol abuse but we are not examining the possibility that some drivers may have been abusing recreational drugs or even some of the harder drugs. We must introduce a system of roadside testing for those substances. I am aware the Minister of State, Deputy Carey, has been involved in promoting drug-related information sites for young people where they can educate and inform themselves about many of the substances available and the dangers attached to using them.

There should be much greater availability of polydrug clinics. Attempts were made to introduce cocaine clinics but they were not very successful. People might not feel there is a specific need for cocaine related clinics but when they begin to abuse drugs like cocaine they are often experimenting with and abusing other drugs also. It is hoped the polydrug clinics will be able to deal with alcohol abuse also because we are seeing more of the combination of alcohol abuse with drug abuse.

I welcome the proposal the Minister of State, Deputy Carey, made in his contribution about a national strategy on substance abuse that would incorporate alcohol because that is something that has been missing. Having been a member of a drugs task force in Bray I am aware of the excellent work it carried out regarding drug abuse generally but in recent years there has been much more discussion about the need to tackle the alcohol abuse problem, although it needs to be approached in a different way from the traditional approach to drug abuse. Alcohol is a drug that is widely abused in our society and the Green Party would welcome seeing it incorporated into a national strategy on substance abuse. I thank the Minister of State for his presentation.