Teenagers are to be asked what measures are needed to tackle binge drinking in a Government consultation process.
However, the largest youth work organisation in the country said the process was an "unnecessary diversion" and that young people had been "overconsulted" about the problem.
Michael McLoughlin of Youth Work Ireland said: "What's needed now is action by the Government and the Minister for Health to fully implement the Government's own Strategic Task Force on Alcohol."
President Mary McAleese recently held a forum on alcohol and young people, while the young people's parliament, Dáil na nÓg, has made alcohol the main topic for discussion. In recent years the Department of Health conducted a study which asked teenagers their opinions of a range of existing alcohol advertisements to assess the impact of alcohol advertising on them.
Minister of State for Children Brian Lenihan, however, said young people needed to be directly involved in forming a new strategy to combat teenage drinking.
The views of between 200 and 300 teenagers, aged between 14 and 18, will be sought during the consultation process which will get underway shortly.
"I believe the time has come to stop talking about the problem of teenage drinking and to start talking to teenagers about drinking . . . We want to find out what young people themselves think about drinking and drinking patterns. We need to find out why they drink, how they are introduced to it and how they view excessive drinking," Mr Lenihan said.
The Minister said no specific legislative action was planned on underage drinking in advance of the general election, which is expected in the summer, but he said the information would be useful for future measures.
He also insisted that good progress was being made in implementing the recommendations of the Strategic Task Force on Alcohol.
The Government, however, has been criticised for not introducing restrictions on alcohol advertising, one of the main recommendations of the taskforce.
In May 2003, Bertie Ahern announced that there would be a ban on alcohol advertising on television and radio before 10pm, on public transport and in cinemas where films for people under 18 are being shown. However, no such ban was ever introduced and, following lobbying from the drinks industry, the Government introduced a "strict voluntary code of practice" for the industry.
