Sir, - Coming up to the Christmas holidays we will witness the usual upsurge in under-age drinking which goes with this time of the year. We will also witness littering, vandalism and anti-social behaviour, which seem to go hand-in-hand with under-age drinking.
Unfortunately this is not just confined to one time of the year. It is happening daily. Irish teenagers are among the worse abusers of alcohol in Europe.
This problem seems to be particularly serious in Dublin. Publicans don't seem to care as long as they are making a profit. Off-licenses seem to be the worst perpetrators. The Intoxicating Liquor Act 2000 tries to deal with this by proposing changes to Section 17 which specify: "In circumstances where alcohol is being sold for consumption off the premises, the name of the owner and address of the premises must be displayed on a label to any container in which alcohol is sold."
While I am glad to see this proposed change, one has to ask why the aforementioned act has not been enforced. There seems to be a complete absence of any coherent policy to deal with under-age drinking.
Mr Micheβl Martin launched a campaign in July 2001 promising to "attack the culture of acceptance of alcohol as harmless and the tolerance that leads people to collude often without realising it with under-age drinking". I would ask the Minister to bear in mind that alcohol destroys more lives in Ireland than any other drug and I would also ask him to enforce the changes made to the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2000. - Yours, etc.,
Cllr Larry O'Toole, (Sinn FΘin), Buttercup Park, Darndale, Dublin 17.