PATRICK HENNESSY,
Madam, - Three cheers for Catherine Lynch (December 4th) for pinpointing the root cause of the drink problem in Ireland.
I was brought up in a pub in rural Ireland and saw my fair share of lives destroyed by drink. I have lived 20 years abroad in seven different countries spanning Europe, Africa and South East Asia, and almost everywhere I have lived drink has been more readily available and cheaper than in Ireland. Limiting availability is not the answer to the drink problem in Ireland. Raising prices is not the answer. Look across Europe for proof. Drink is more readily available around the clock and cheaper in most European capitals than in Dublin, but do they have a drink problem like us? I am amazed that, in spite of so much proof to the contrary, there is still a body of people in Ireland who believe the solution lies in such evident "non-causes".
The solution is in the Irish bar itself. What is the purpose of a bar? To socialise, meet friends, talk. How many bars in Dublin city centre genuinely meet these criteria? As Ms Lynch points out, the limited increase in the number of licences has led to the creation of huge, mindless drinking factories where a combination of factors (sound being the most obvious one) prohibit genuine socialising. These bars have one purpose: to get you to drink as much as possible as fast as possible and then get out when drunk. Don't let the customer talk. Turn up the sound. Don't have many seats around. Keep them standing. The thousands who walk in and puke out of these drink factories every weekend, zombified by incessant, repetitive sound designed for getting high (alone), need the law to help them.
There are simple solutions. There should be a clear distinction between bars and clubs and different criteria for both. Pubs, like buses, should have a legal maximum number of clients who can be on the premises at any one time. More space per customer, better seating, better use of sound at acceptable levels. Unlike night-clubs, bars should have a maximum legal sound level.
For bars and clubs some common criteria: staff who meet minimum standards of cleanliness and good manners. Discreet bouncers who concentrate more on simple psychology than brawn. An easily identifiable customer services manager on site at all times whose sole function is to deal patiently with customer complaints and issues. A large selection of non-alcoholic drinks. No minimum price at peak times whereby someone pays the same for a soda water as a whiskey. Drinking water served on request. Coffee and tea available at all hours. Some form of food, though not cooked on the premises. Drugs strictly prohibited.
When Irish bars become civilised again, so too will Irish drinkers, and their drinking. - Yours, etc.,
PATRICK HENNESSY, South Sathorn Road, Bangkok, Thailand.
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Madam, - So, we drink too much. Apparently, our teenagers are capable of getting their hands on alcohol and drinking it until they are sick. Apparently, our young workforce spends millions of euro on alcohol. Apparently, slick advertisements are causing us to associate alcohol with pleasure and the pursuit of happiness. Is this something we didn't know? Is this a recent development in grumpy, post-tiger Ireland? Is this information worthy of all the column inches, special reports and Dáil debate?
Hardly. It's just noise made by media all too happy to fan the flames of any controversy (especially a nice, obvious one that we can all get our heads around), and by a feeble Government eager to prove it possesses initiative and purpose. Meanwhile, this Christmas, after a 10-year boom, more people than ever will be homeless on the streets of Dublin, and on those of "hubs" and "gateways" across the country. After a 10-year boom, thousands of Irish people still live below the poverty line and our society is one of gross inequality. After two centuries of sending economic refugees to more developed countries around the world, we shrug and shamelessly display our empty pockets to those who are now seeking a better life here.
These are the issues, especially at this time of the year, that should be filling newspaper editorials, news reports and government agendas - not the navel-gazing of an increasingly pathetic and selfish nation. - Yours, etc.,
FRANK HARKIN, Grange Park Rise, Raheny, Dublin 5.