Sir, – Further to the letter published on March 19th, the World Health Organisation (WHO) research on health behaviour in school-aged children (HBSC) does reflect positive developments in Irish children's alcohol consumption.
The Irish HBSC data, published last December and available on alcoholireland.ie, shows a decrease in reported levels of drunkenness and an increase in levels of “never drinking” between 2010 and 2014, both of which are very welcome and a credit to Irish children and their parents.
However, it is important to note that this research includes children aged from 10 to 17 years. While alcohol consumption, thankfully, is not a feature in the lives of the majority of Irish children aged 14 or under, the picture – across every category of drinking behaviour – changes significantly when children reach 15.
For example, while almost two in 10 Irish boys and one in 10 Irish girls aged 10 to 11 years reported drinking alcohol previously, that increased to seven out of 10 for both boys and girls aged 15 to 17 years. There are also large increases in risky drinking behaviour when in that age group, behaviour which is commonplace throughout the adult population, suggesting there is a clear age of drinking “initiation” in Ireland.
The WHO has made it clear for many years that the overwhelming evidence shows that tackling alcohol pricing, marketing and availability are the most effective, and cost-effective, measures for reducing alcohol harm in a country. Ireland has one of the highest levels of alcohol harm in the world.
It is these WHO-recommended measures, contained in Ireland’s Public Health (Alcohol) Bill, that will reduce alcohol harm, support our children and their parents in their efforts to make low-risk choices around alcohol consumption and ensure that the encouraging progress reflected in this most recent HBSC report is sustained and results in positive, lasting change to our harmful drinking culture. – Yours, etc,
CONOR CULLEN,
Head of Communications
and Advocacy,
Alcohol Action Ireland,
Coleraine House, Dublin 7.