Is alcohol playing too large a part in Irish sport? Dr Mick Loftus, a former president of the GAA, believes it is.
Dr Loftus resigned as honorary president of Crossmolina GAA club last month over an application for a clubhouse bar exemption. He says young people involved in sport feel under pressure to drink, and drinks companies are taking advantage of them.
As coroner for north Mayo for 28 years, and a GP in Crossmolina for 42 years, he says the damage caused by alcohol abuse is all too evident.
"There is nothing devastating families more than alcohol. People don't realise the amount of violence in homes." He thinks most of the men would not be violent, were it not for drink. "You will get the odd one who had no drink taken, he has that kind of temper. But it's not only violence on the night. It causes upsets when the money in the home is spent and there are arguments about that."
Dr Loftus thinks alcohol abuse is a problem in 25 to 30 per cent of homes and he has seen the effects through generations.
"The saddest of the lot is the psychological abuse of the children in those homes. They grow up in it - I see quite a lot of them as adults now and they are getting married themselves. I can still see how they are affected - they are depressed, anxious, they haven't a good outlook on things, they don't get involved in things, although you do have exceptions."
He says he doesn't want to exaggerate the problem of domestic violence, but he believes men are drinking more and starting younger and many more women are drinking.
In his work as coroner since 1972, he says alcohol was a factor in 65 per cent of cases. Of the 31 road traffic deaths he dealt with in 20 years to 1998, 25 people were over the alcohol limit, most of them under 30 years old.
Alcohol is also a factor in the deaths of older people. Last year two elderly people burned to death and one died by falling down stairs - all three had blood alcohol levels above 300 mg, or at least six drinks.
Dr Loftus says alcohol had also been taken in 60 per cent of suicide cases.
After a lifetime of involvement, he is clearly disappointed with the GAA and its sponsorship deals with drinks companies. "The association was always very committed to youth. I would have loved to see the GAA give a lead," he says.
He was one of those who helped to raise £200,000 in the 1970s and 1980s to build facilities at his local club in Crossmolina, without sponsorship from drinks companies. "If you look around the country, I would say that 90 per cent of facilities were put there by voluntary, committed work," he says.
He is still a member of Crossmolina GAA club but resigned as president when he learned that other club officials were making a court application for a special clubhouse bar exemption on the night of a Connacht club football final.
He counts himself as "lucky" because he was too involved in sport to ever feel the need to drink. At 71, half a century after he won All-Ireland senior football medals with Mayo, fitness is still important. He goes for a five-mile run five evenings a week, having started in his surgery at 8 a.m.
Despite his strong views, he manages to avoid sounding preachy. "I think if people want to take a drink, let them take a drink, but it shouldn't be promoted as if you can't enjoy life unless you take alcohol."
He was reared in a pub by his aunt after his mother died and worked in it as a student. After playing in the All-Ireland minor final in 1947, 12 of the team went to an ice cream parlour.
"The pressure I feel is on lads now to drink in sport. The drinks companies are there ready to pour it into them." He sees "a marked ambivalence" among politicians - while £10 million a day is spent on alcohol and £13 million a day on the health services.
"I know it's because the drinks lobby is so strong. By giving money, drinks companies can buy people's silence."