Irish teenagers are the biggest binge drinkers in the European Union, and girls are outstripping boys, according to a report published today.
The European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD) found that, in 2003, 32 per cent of all Irish teenagers admitted binge drinking, followed by 28 per cent in The Netherlands, and 27 per cent in both the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man. Ireland's position at the top of the table remains unchanged since 1999.
Binge drinking was classed as having more than five alcoholoic drinks in a row at least three times in the last 30 days.
Irish girls (33 per cent) binge drank more than their male counterparts (31 per cent), the survey said. The only other countries where more girls admitted binge-drinking than boys were the United Kingdom, where 29 per cent of girls and 26 per cent of boys admitted doing so and the Isle of Man (30 per cent compared with 26 per cent).
The ESPAD questionnaire consisted of about 300 questions relating to behaviours, knowledge and beliefs concerning cigarettes, alcohol, solvents and illegal drugs. The Irish sample consisted of 2,407 young people born in 1987 (16-year-olds) who were selected on a random basis from those attending various kinds of post-primary schools.
In total 100,000 students were questioned by researchers in the University of the West of England in Bristol, for the survey.
Beer was the most popular drink among boys and spirits and alcopops most popular drink among girls.
Nearly one-third (30 per cent) of Irish 16-year-olds said they had been drunk 10 or more times during the last 12 month, ranking second in Europe after Denmark. Turkey had the lowest prevalence (5 per cent) of teenage binge drinking, the report found. France (9 per cent), Hungary (8 per cent) and Cyprus (10 per cent) also recorded low levels of heavy drinking amongst teenagers.
Irish students also show a higher-than-average prevalence of lifetime use of illicit drugs. Ranking second in the table of 35 ESPAD participating countries, Ireland (8 per cent increase on 1999) is just one of nine countries recording increased prevalence rates along with Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greenland, Hungary, Portugal and the Slovak Republic.
Irish students (39 per cent) were almost twice as likely to have used cannabis drug than the ESPAD average (21 per cent). Although boys continue to show higher levels of use, of particular note is the increase in lifetime use among girls (from 29 per cent in 1999 to 39 per cent in 2003).
The Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Mr Seán Power, said alcohol use and abuse among Irish adolescents "continues to be a major problem."
However he pointed to other more welcome findings. "One of the clearest outcomes in the 2003 ESPAD study is that cigarette smoking has shown a substantial drop of about 10 per cent among the 16-year-old population".
Smoking has dropped by 4 per cent from 1995 to 1999 and a further 4 per cent between 1999 and 2003.
Green Party health spokesperson Mr John Gormley said the report showed the misuse of alcohol by teenagers is "a major problem".
He said the Government should ban the advertising of alcohol on television and to immediately implement the recommendations of the Department of Health's Task Force on Alcohol.
"Surely this report shows beyond any doubt that our biggest drug problem is not cannabis or even heroin but alcohol.
It's time we got real in this country about our alcohol crisis. The cost to our health service and indeed the fabric of society has become too great to ignore," the Greens TD said.
