Madam, - Curtailing alcohol advertising to young adults and restricting the promotion and sponsorship of youth or student events by alcohol companies is all welcome and well-intentioned.
But a more subtle form of alcohol promotion is being overlooked: there is no censorship of greeting cards which, as I discovered recently, give blatant encouragement to excessive drinking for 18th-birthday celebrations in particular.
I had difficulty finding a suitable card for my niece's 18th birthday last week. The vast majority of cards in the three card/newsagent shops that I visited in a south Dublin suburb made overt reference to irresponsible behaviour with alcohol.
A selection of cards in one shop alone contained such phrases as: "sloshed and still standing"; "a little drink won't hurt anyone, hic!"; "official cake and booze taster"; "poised and elegant. . .difficult if legless"; "legal drinking age: only need to remember two things - name and address".
Maybe it is time to curb this insidious advertising aimed at the new "legal" drinker. - Yours, etc,
ÁINE NIC AILIN, Blackrock, Co Dublin.