Almost €6 billion is spent by Irish people on alcohol every year, with latest data indicating the Irish consume more alcohol annually than all but one other country in the enlarged EU. Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent, reports.
The second report of the Strategic Task Force on Alcohol, published yesterday, points out that this means every adult over the age of 15 is spending €1,942 a year on drink.
Personal expenditure on drink has almost doubled, it says, from €3.3 billion in 1995 to nearly €6 billion in 2002.
The report states that binge drinking, defined as having six or more standard drinks on a single occasion, has become the norm among Irish men. Out of every 100 drinking occasions among men, 58 end up in binge drinking, while among women every 30 drinking occasions end up in binge drinking.
The availability of drink has also increased with the number of liquor licences issued for off-licences selling spirits increasing from 368 in 1993 to 808 in 2002, while the numbers selling wine increased six-fold, from 364 in 1993 to 2,023 in 2002.
The number of special exemption orders granted by the courts has also increased. In 2002 this was 81,933, up from 75,498 in 2001 and from 55,290 in 1994.
"This reflects the greater availability of alcohol beyond the regular opening hours. The increase of special exemption orders in 2002 was all the more remarkable given that the opening hours had also been extended," the report states.
Furthermore, the amount spent on alcohol advertising, excluding sponsorship and other promotion activities, continues to increase substantially each year. In 1996 the alcohol advertising spend in the Republic was €25.4 million while in 2002 it had reached €43.2 million, according to the report.
The cost to people's health of all this alcohol consumption is also spelt out in the document. It states that some 14,223 people died in the State from the five main alcohol-related causes, including cancers, alcohol psychosis, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, alcohol poisoning and suicide between 1992 and 2002. Those who died in traffic accidents or drowned as a result of alcohol use are not included in the figure.
"Alcohol harm is visible throughout Ireland: on the streets, in the courts, hospitals, workplace, schools, and homes. Despite the tendency to blame under-age drinkers, the vast majority of alcohol harm occurs among the adult population," it adds.
It points out that the number of offences relating to being intoxicated in a public place was 22,701 in 2002, up 27 per cent on the previous year, while arrests for drink-driving offences increased from 5,975 in 1995 to 13,441 in 2002.
The cost of all this drinking to Irish society was estimated at €2.65 billion in 2003 in terms of healthcare costs, road accidents, alcohol-related crime, absenteeism from work and lost productivity, the report states.
"Ireland continues to be amongst the highest consumers of alcohol in the world. In the new enlarged European Union, Ireland ranks second after Luxembourg for alcohol consumption in 2001 [the most recent available international data\]," the report continues.
The Government benefits hugely from the annual tax take on alcohol consumption. The report said its take in 2002 was €1.8 billion.
However, it is prepared to try to reduce alcohol consumption, the report points out, and it has been somewhat successful in this regard in the past few years.
Alcohol consumption in Ireland showed a decline for the first time in over 16 years last year, it states, mainly due to a large drop in spirit sales after tax on them was increased in the budget.
Furthermore, the Intoxicating Liquor Act of 2000 has resulted in a number of premises being closed down for selling alcohol to minors.