A drop in alcohol consumption in Ireland is welcome, but people are still drinking more in a single occasion.
That's according to Paula Leonard, National Lead for the Irish Community Action on Alcohol Network.
Provisional Revenue data shows alcohol consumption in 2022 was down on pre-COVID levels.
The long-term trend is also suggesting that consumption continues to decline sharply - down by over 30% since its peak in 2001.
The data shows beer consumption was down by 3% on 2019, wine was down by just under 3% and cider decreased by 12%.
Spirit sales saw an increase.
Ms Leonard told Newstalk Breakfast there is more to the figures.
"Less young people in Ireland are drinking, which is a really positive thing," she said.
"But among the young [people] who are drinking, in a single occasion, they're drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.
"The amounts they're drinking in a single sitting has gone up.
"That seems to be the pattern also with adults - we've always been big bingers in this country.
"We drink a lot of our alcohol in a single sitting".
Alcoholic liver disease
Ms Leonard said the Irish baseline was already very high compared to other countries.
"In 2001 we have had a three-fold increase since the 1960s - so that's the baseline that we're coming down from," she said.
"So we're still significantly high in European terms, we're still significantly high in global terms.
"What we need to think about is against the backdrop of decreasing alcohol consumption, we are still seeing increasing levels of harm".
Ms Leonard said data for both Ireland the UK is "quite worrying."
"We're seeing continued risks and continued increases in alcoholic liver disease," she said.
"If you just take alcoholic liver disease, male discharges for alcoholic liver disease between 1995 and 2018 went up by 247%," she added.
Listen back to the full interview below:
