The Irish Medical Organisation has passed motions at its annual conference calling for increased taxes on alcohol and tobacco products.
Delegates at the IMO conference in Killarney, Co Kerry voted in favour of a number of motions relating to drink and tobacco, including a call on the Minister for Finance Brian Cowen to increase the price of all spirits by 50 per cent a measure in his next Budget.
They also passed motions calling for an increase the excise duty on all alcohol drinks by an amount greater than the rate of inflation, with the exception of beers with an alcohol content of less than three per cent) and a ban on the promotion or sponsorship of concerts by alcohol companies where the attendance will include people under 18 years of age
They also want the Government to introduce random breath testing for alcohol and to hold a referendum to facilitate this measure if necessary
Other motions demanded an increase of €2 on the price of every packet of cigarettes in the next Budget.
The IMO represents over 6,000 professionals nationwide. More than 400 doctors, including hospital consultants, public health doctors, GPs and non consultant hospital doctors, are attending the conference in Killarney today and tomorrow.
In a statement tonight, the drinks industry rejected the IMO's calls for
tax
increases. The Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI), the representative body for drinks companies, said it "strongly rejected" the proposals.
A spokesman for DIGI said the alcohol industry in Ireland was "already the most heavily taxed in Europe" and that further increases in taxation would "penalise every adult in the country while doing nothing to restrict the abuse of alcohol by a small minority".
He said the drinks industry employs the equivalent of 80,000 people full time and that any increase in taxation such as that proposed by the IMO would have a significant impact across the sector.
But t he motions were defended by former IMO president Dr Joe Barry.
"We feel so strongly about this because we see the problems associated with alcohol in our day-to-day work," he said. "In 1990, Ireland was the second-lowest consumer of alcohol in Europe, by the year 2000 we were the second-highest.
"The amount we are drinking has shot up in the last 15 years. My colleagues in A&E see huge amounts of problems coming in, both long-term and short-term.
"People are suffering from liver failure in their 30s which we never had before, there is a big problem with young males committing suicide which is definitely linked to alcohol and the amount of young girls with sexual transmitted infections is again linked with alcohol.
"There are also more road traffic accidents and public disorder incidents."
Dr Barry accused the Government of being too closely connected with the drinks industry to implement its own taskforce to deal with the escalating problems.
Additional reporting: PA