First the sweet, alcohol-spiked fruit drinks were taken off the shelves of several supermarket chains amid accusations that they promoted under-age drinking.

Then last year the former minister for health, Mr Michael Noonan, rounded on them as "one of the biggest threats to young people in the country".

Last Wednesday it was the turn of the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise and Employment, Mr Tom Kitt, who lambasted this "undesirable product", outlining a code of practice for its sale in the drinks industry.

But is all this fretting justified? Are alcopops the "insidious concoctions" they are made out to be, or merely soft targets in the battle against teenage drinking?

Opponents like the National Parents' Council are in no doubt that they are a danger to young people. They point to the brightly-coloured labelling and comic-book names, like Woody's, Corky's and Hooper's Hooch, as evidence that alcopops are aimed at the teenage market.

"They are definitely making people take up drink younger," said Mr John Whyte, a council spokesman. "Despite what the manufacturers say, the fact is that the target age group is 15 to 18 years. It's geared for young people by giving them the buzz out of alcohol without the bitter taste."

Their high alcohol content is another cause of concern. While ordinary beers have an average alcohol content of 4.2 per cent, alcopops have an average of about 4.7 per cent, with many, such as designer cocktails Bacardi Breezer, Smirnoff Mule and Ritz TQ, offering almost 6 per cent.

The cost of alcopops is about the same as bottled beer, although some like French Lick, a new raspberry lager brewed in Newbridge, Co Kildare, are up to 30p cheaper than their rivals.

Mr Whyte said he was particularly worried about their abuse with the Leaving Certificate results coming out later this month. "What some teenagers are doing now is buying vodka and gin and using these alcopops as mixers. That's a fairly lethal cocktail."

While parents have a responsibility to educate young people about alcohol, he said, pubs and off-licences have a vital role to play. "Vintners should be responsible and ban these alcopops from their premises."

This call for a ban is supported by the Consumer Association of Ireland. Ms Caroline Gill, chief executive of the association, said: "The most insidious aspect about them is the way they are marketed and promoted." She said they were "adding to the attractiveness of drink. They are all dressed in nice bright colours, and even the names are aimed at young people. It's very cynical."

To date, no research has been carried out in Ireland specifically on alcopops. As a result, said Dr Mark Morgan, a social psychologist at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, "very little is known about their impact on young people".

Recent trends on teenage drinking, however, do give cause for concern. "There have been two major changes in the last 15 to 20 years," said Dr Morgan. "The first is that the number of abstainers has dramatically fallen off. And the second is that the age at which people start drinking has drifted downwards by about two or three years."

One recent survey of Dublin Junior Cert students, aged about 15, showed that almost half said they had been drunk in the previous five months, while almost 20 per cent admitted to having being inebriated on six or more occasions in that period.

A 1994 Galway study, carried out by the Department of Health Promotion at UCG, showed that almost 30 per cent of 15- to 25-year-olds were in a "heavy drinking" category, consuming the equivalent of more than 17 pints of beer a week.

Dr Ann Hope, of the UCG department, said that "the overall trend is that kids are starting younger, more of them are drinking and more of them are demonstrating abusive-type drinking patterns".

In relation to alcopops, she said that in the absence of specific research it was difficult to comment. However, she said, "there is no reason to believe that our experience would be different from Britain".

A number of recent studies in Britain have indicated that alcopops are being marketed at, and predominantly consumed by, under-age drinkers, particularly girls in the 15-16 year age bracket.

Last July the British Medical Association called for tougher laws on the fruit drinks, while the British government set up a ministerial group on alcopops.

Opposition has also been voiced by the European Parliament, which last April started a campaign to introduce mandatory guidelines for the promotion, marketing and retailing of alcopops throughout the EU.

However, the most significant development came last Monday when an independent chain of almost 200 British pubs, J.D. Wetherspoon, decided as a result of the negative publicity that it would no longer sell the fruit drinks.

Many publicans in Ireland are close to doing the same. The Vintners' Federation of Ireland, which represents 6,000 publicans, has stopped short of calling for a ban on alcopops, but does not encourage their sale. "A lot of our members have already taken them off their shelves," said Mr Paul O'Grady, president of the VFI. "My own impression is that they are a novelty, and they will die a natural death."

In his view, what is more worrying is the influx of new alcoholic products, among them so-called alcolollies, frozen ice pops made from spirits and fruit juices. "I can see a day when alcoholic tea and coffee will come in." At present, no alcohol licence is needed to sell such products. "They can be sold anywhere out of a fridge," said Mr O'Grady.

So is all this bile aimed at alcopops misdirected? Is the real enemy elsewhere? Ms Maura Russell, director of the Rutland Centre, the residential addiction treatment centre in Dublin, said we shouldn't fall into the trap of blaming alcopops for all under-age drinking. "Young people are going to drink whether or not alcopops are available."

She added: "The whole issue of teenage drinking hasn't been tackled well. Removing alcopops from shelves isn't going to make any difference, unless it's matched by a serious initiative from the Government to raise awareness about the dangers of alcohol."

The message is clear. While alcopops may prove to be a mere fad, under-age drinking is an altogether more enduring phenomenon.