Almost 1-in-14 Irish people who drink meet the criteria for dependent drinking. New figures published by the Health Research Board also show that 75% of all alcohol consumed was done so as part of a binge drinking session.

The figures were taken as part of the first National Alcohol Diary Survey, involving almost 6,000 people aged 18-75 across Ireland during 2013.

They show that just over 21% of drinkers engaged in binge drinking at least once a week, and just over 64% of 18-24-year-old drinkers who participated in the survey consumed six or more standard drinks on a typical drinking session in the last year.

54% of 18-75-year-old drinkers were classified as harmful drinkers, which equates to 1.35 million harmful drinkers in Ireland.

33% of men and more than 23% of women who consumed alcohol in the week prior to the survey consumed more than the HSE low-risk drinking guidelines of 16.8 standard drinks for men and 11.2 standard drinks for women.

And 13% of men and almost 9% of women drank their recommended weekly guidelines in one sitting in the week prior to the survey.

When figures are applied to the population of drinkers, they show as a nation we spent more than €50.6 million on alcohol in the week prior to the study. While 3,230 work-or-study years were lost through alcohol-related illness in the year.

This infographic from the Health Research Board puts the numbers in context

The study also found that:

• 64% of men and 51% of women started drinking before the legal age of 18
• Monthly binge drinking most common among 18-24 year old age group (at 60%)
• Harmful drinking is highest among 18-24 year old age group (at 75%)
• Dependent drinking is highest among 18-24 year old age group (at 15%)

Dr. Jean Long of the Health Research Board is co-author of the report. She told the Pat Kenny Show here on Newstalk that we are doing more damage to our health than we think.