That's men for you: How many Irishmen use drink as a painkiller and not for enjoyment? Could it even be said that we get less enjoyment out of our drinking than men do in other European countries?
It's a strange thought, given our reputation as big drinkers - yet it is likely that other nations enjoy a drink more than we do.
These thoughts are prompted by a piece of research from Cork University Hospital, published in the Irish Medical Journal.
Most striking in that research was the finding that of those men who attended the emergency department and who were very drunk, half had also taken large amounts of medication in an attempt to harm themselves.
That's a surprising figure but it is supported by other studies which have shown a link between excessive drinking and deliberate self-harm.
Oddly enough, if you looked at daily average consumption only, you would imagine we were restrained when it came to the drink.
A table included in the study shows that just 1.6 per cent of men in Ireland drink every day (or at least admit to it). By contrast, 12 per cent of German men drink every day.
But when you look at binge drinking the picture changes completely. Some 48 per cent of Irishmen binge drink at least once a week. By contrast, only 9 per cent of German men do so.
Indeed, out of every 100 drinking sessions, Irishmen binge on 58 occasions and German men on 13.
Bingeing is defined by the researchers as taking five or more drinks in a row. Women are defined as binge drinkers if they take four or more drinks in a row.
The finding that half of the very drunk men surveyed in the emergency department at CUH had tried to harm themselves is supported by research done at Navan hospital in 2001. That research found that half of those patients who had taken a drug overdose also had an alcohol dependency.
Somewhere along the line the connection between pleasure and drinking has got lost. Remember the debate which led up to the liberalising of licensing hours? Those in favour, including myself, believed we would learn to drink slowly and enjoyably as people do on the Continent. There would be no more stacking up the pints just before closing time.
Well, we all know what happened - we drank more and more and more.
In the 10 years between 1989 and 1999, the consumption of alcohol per capita in Ireland rose by 41 per cent. We have all heard that statistic before, but it still astonishes me. Not everybody drinks or binge drinks, so that figure means that those who drink heavily and who binge are really drinking enormous quantities.
This, in turn, suggests that there is an awful lot of emotional pain out there and that we are not dealing with it in an effective way.
I would suggest there is a case for ensuring that people who present at emergency departments with drink problems be given at least one session of counselling before they leave the department, even if it is just one brief session.
There is some evidence from abroad that such counselling actually has an effect and that it encourages some people to take a more sensible approach to life's problems.
That would be a tiny step forward in dealing with this huge issue. Still, I am not optimistic that even that will happen. We are not good at providing resources for dealing with alcohol-related problems. Let's face it, we have enough problems to fill a clinic in every parish in the country. Yet people are routinely patched up in hospitals and then sent off without any special intervention to help them stop destroying their lives.
I suppose most people who binge drink fool themselves into believing they are enjoying themselves, but I am convinced that a point comes for most when they cannot fool themselves any longer.
If we as a nation could find a better way to handle our pain, perhaps we could quit bingeing and start to enjoy our drink for a change.
Padraig O'Morain is a journalist and counsellor accredited by the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.