Criticism by the President, Mrs McAleese, of Ireland's drink culture has been endorsed by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, who supported her right to make such comments outside of the country.
"I certainly do not disagree with what she said," Mr Ahern told The Irish Times, following a Fianna Fáil press conference marking Europe Day.
However, the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, called on the Taoiseach to show "some leadership" and to take responsibility for a strategy to combat the country's growing drink problem.
The report from the National Crime Council had clearly demonstrated the damage caused by excessive drinking, Mr Kenny said in Wexford.
In particular, the Government should return pubs to their pre-2000 opening hours, ban all alcohol advertising and increase penalties for retailers who sell alcohol to under-age drinkers.
"This is too pervasive a problem for the Government to allow its normal response of announcement, spin and inaction to prevail," Mr Kenny said.
"We should be prepared to examine introducing prohibitive tax increases on certain alcoholic drinks and reducing the blood-alcohol levels for provisional drivers to zero."
