Irish people are "among the biggest boozers on the planet", said Ms Mary Coughlan, Minister of State for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, as she opened the 21st Patrick MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal, yesterday.
The theme of this year's school is "Drugs and Alcohol in Irish Society - Use and Abuse", with particular emphasis on young people.
Ms Coughlan said Irish people today drank more often than previous generations, and more than their contemporaries in most other countries.
"When we get tanked up we fight, we crash cars, we beat up our spouses and our children, we fall down and we miss days at work. In the long run, we cost the State countless millions in lost productivity, in healthcare, in ruined lives and premature deaths," Ms Coughlan said.
The future of too many of today's young people was at risk of being lost in an "alcoholic haze". Recent research had shown that children as young as nine were drinking and by the time they reached their mid-teens they were regularly drinking to a state of intoxication. "And the girls are as active in this as the boys," she said.
However, Ms Coughlan said excess drinking was not the only problem facing young people. "They are also smoking narcotic substances, popping pills and sniffing stuff up their noses to blur the connections with reality," she said.
Ireland had strict laws on drink- and drug-related offences but none of these seemed to make any difference, she said. The answer lay elsewhere. "Information may enlighten but it does not form the basis of our actions." Young people were more likely to behave in a socially acceptable manner if they had a personal code to follow.
"In an era when many young people appear to receive very little formal religious training and when magazines, television and videos appear to be the source of wisdom for a whole generation, this aspect of the situation might be worth closer investigation."
The director of the summer school, Dr Joe Mulholland, said this year's school provided the first national forum on the use and abuse of drugs and alcohol. "It's an important subject in Ireland today, that's why we chose it."
Dr Mulholland said he hoped the damage being done by the abuse of drugs and alcohol would be comprehensively analysed during the week.
The school, which continues until August 17th, will also concentrate on cultural events. There will be a special focus on the work of the painter Derek Hill, who died last year.
