Let's be honest, most of us have a bad drinking story or two to tell. Tales of bravado about the time we made a complete fool of ourselves because we had one too many. The antics we got up to while under the influence at that office party. The wildness we often put down to youth, writes Miriam Donohoe
With Christmas around the corner, the annual Irish drinkathon is already under way, and many bad and sad drinking tales will unfold in the next month. There will be much drunkenness and the aim at most Christmas parties will be to get "sloshed".
Families will be left devastated as fathers, mothers, and children booze to excess. We will be bombarded with the usual warnings about the dangers of over-consumption.
We consider ourselves a progressive, mature country, up there with the best of them. But we are backwards in our attitude to drink.
It will take a lot to change things. Alcohol is ingrained in our culture. From the cradle to the grave, drink is part of what we are and central to all our celebrations, including christenings, communions, confirmations, examinations, 21st birthday parties, hen and stag parties, weddings, Christmas and St Patrick's Day. Oh, and let's not forget the great Irish wake.
We pride ourselves on being great "craic" and knocking back the jar as if there was no tomorrow, then singing the songs, and falling home. One current radio show even features a Saturday morning phone-call to a very hung-over listener.
Last night, RTÉ's Prime Time programme featured a revealing documentary about our drink culture. It did a great service in highlighting what is now a chronic social problem.
Ireland has recorded the highest increase in alcohol consumption among EU countries in the last decade. Between 1989 and 1999 alcohol consumption per capita increased by a massive 41 per cent. During the same period 10 EU countries showed a decrease in alcohol intake.
What is especially worrying is the drink culture among our young people. Teenage drinking is hardly a new phenomenon, and I can recall being served beer when I was 16 years old. But that seems innocent compared to some of the stories we hear of youth drinking nowadays.
A recent survey published by the Department of Health makes for disturbing reading. It shows that one in five boys aged between 12 and 14 experiment with alcohol. By the time they reach 15-16 years of age, 50 per cent of girls and two-thirds of boys will be regular drinkers.
Of particular concern is the level of binge drinking and drunkenness. One third of 15-16-year-olds indulge in binge drinking - when you have five or more drinks in a row, three or more times a month.
The Garda crime figures report published this week says juvenile crime is going out of control due to excessive drinking.
The number of teenagers arrested for being drunk and disorderly rose by 45 per cent in 2001. In the same period, the number of prosecutions for the purchase and possession of alcohol more than doubled. Drink-related offences were up by 85 per cent.
Our teenagers have many drinking role models. Take our international soccer team, for example. A little-quoted section of the recent Genesis report into the Saipan affair warns that Mick McCarthy's successor as Ireland manager will have to address the drink culture within the squad.
It appears our soccer heroes had at least three major drinking bouts during the World Cup, and we have read about the notorious all-day session that followed our exit against Spain.
Niall Quinn's recently published biography goes into great detail about the drink culture in the game, and he talks about how he was saved from its worst excesses by his wife Gillian. But it's not just soccer.
Drinking is also very much part of our national games. It is a disgrace that the GAA continues to allow the senior hurling championship to be sponsored by Guinness. It doesn't seem to care that it encourages the excessive pint-drinking that surrounds every fixture at national and local level.
Drink is presented as glamorous and inviting; one recent TV advertisement suggests it can help ordinary young men "pull" beautiful-looking girls in fancy night-clubs.
Perhaps the Government could make granting a licence fee increase to RTÉ partly conditional on it giving a commitment to ban all drink advertising.
I am not anti-drink, and admit I have had a tipple too much on occasion. But I am uneasy, as are many others, at the extent to which drink has come to dominate the lives of young people.
It is time for less lip service from the Government and time for some firm action. There is a campaign on the airwaves at the moment warning about the dangers of excess drinking, and many towns operate a voluntary ID system in pubs to cut down on teen drinking.
But this is not enough. One of the keys to cutting down excess is cutting off access. Publicans and off-licence owners who are found to serve under-age drinkers should be severely dealt with.
We also need to change a culture that says consuming a gallon of beer, or the equivalent of a bottle of spirits, on a regular basis is a healthy and productive pastime.
How bad does it have to get before we seriously try to shed our reputation as a nation of heavy drinkers?