The National Youth Council has said alcohol advertising should be banned at all events attended by young people in the wake of the European study.
The council, which represents 48 regional youth organisations, says all communities should try to provide alternative alcohol-free venues for teenagers to help them to escape the "drink culture".
Mr Peter Byrne, the council's director, said no one should be surprised at the survey's findings of increased alcohol consumption among Irish teenagers. "Every year before the Junior Cert exams we highlight alternatives for alcohol celebrations in church halls, school halls and youth facilities, and every year the students go out and get stotious drunk," he said.
"There is huge pressure on young people. They would find it very, very difficult to tell their friends they had a good night out and they didn't drink."
Mr Byrne said venues which welcomed young people should not carry alcohol advertising. Irish society needed to show maturity in how it perceived alcohol.
The Minister of State for the National Drugs Strategy, Mr Eoin Ryan, welcomed the overall decline in drugs use shown in the report, from 37 per cent in 1999 to 32 per cent in 1995.
However, he expressed concern that 22 per cent of students had used solvents. "Given the high risks of sudden death associated with experimentation with inhaled solvents, I am very anxious to increase awareness of the serious risks associated with solvent abuse," he said.
The Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland called for compulsory identity cards for teenagers and education programmes for employees in the drinks industry. Its vice-president, Ms Catherine Fitzpatrick, said growing numbers of second-level students were missing days at school because of alcohol abuse.