There are calls for a levy on the drinks industry to combat the effects of harmful drinking.
The Alcohol Forum says €3.7 billion is spent every year on treating alcohol-related illnesses. It says the drinks industry should have to pay towards that cost.
The call comes as the first national Alcohol Awareness Week takes place in Ireland runs until Friday. It hopes the campaign will raise awareness, challenge thinking and start a process of re-evaluating the Irish drinking culture.
The body says that in Ireland:
- 250,000 estimated to be alcohol dependant
- 3 deaths per day due to an alcohol condition
- €3.7 billion – the annual cost to the exchequer
- Health Service spend is over €1.2 billion per year
- 25% of all A&E admissions are alcohol-related
- 50% of suicides are alcohol-related
- 33% of road accidents are alcohol-related
- 20% of children drink weekly
- €427 million – lost economic output due to alcohol misuse
Minister: Prices should go way up
The Minister for Health has not ruled out the introduction of such a levy. Minister James Reilly says he is in favour of the minimum pricing of alcohol.
And he says he would like to see the price of drink increase in supermarkets and off-licences and decrease in pubs.
"I would consider anything that would help us back to a normalisation" he said. "Alcohol has a value - if it has a value at all - it's as a social lubricant. So the current situation now sort of has had the unintended consequences of people getting very intoxicated at home and then going out".
"I would much prefer to see - to be honest with you - that the price of alcohol in the pub should come down, and the price of alcohol in the off-licence and the big supermarkets should go way up" he added.
CEO of the Alcohol Forum is Pat Harvey.
Speaking at an alcohol conference in Dublin earlier he described the drinks industry as "goliath" and said it is time to change the culture of alcohol in Ireland.
