How much do we drink?

• In 2009, average alcohol consumption was 11.3 litres per adult, twice the average in 1960
• In 2010, the average Irish person aged 15+ drank 11.9 litres of pure alcohol, according to provisional data. That’s the equivalent of about 44 bottles of vodka, 470 pints or 124 bottles of wine
• Over half of all Irish drinkers have a harmful pattern of drinking, that’s 4 in 10 women and 7 in 10 men who drink
• Alcohol-related problems cost Ireland an estimated €3.7 billion in 2007: that’s a cost of €3,318 on each person paying income tax in Ireland
• A higher proportion of Irish women who drink compared with women in other European countries (77% compared to 68%)
• When we consider the above statistics alongside the fact that one in five adults in Ireland don’t drink alcohol, it means that those who do drink are consuming much more than consumption statistics show
• Alcohol consumption in Ireland increased by 46% between 1987 (9.8 litres) and 2001 (14.3 litres) when our consumption reached a record high
• Even at current levels, we are still drinking 20% above the levels we drank at in 1986/1987
• Ireland continues to rank among the highest consumers of alcohol in the 26 countries in the enlarged EU. We drink about 20% more than the average European
• There was a five-fold increase in the number of off licences in Ireland between 1990 and 2006
• Alcohol in Ireland is 50% more affordable than it was in 1996

Alcohol and Costs

• Alcohol-related problems cost Ireland an estimated €3.7 billion in 2007 - that’s a cost of €3,318 on each person paying income tax in Ireland
• Treating alcohol-related injuries and diseases cost the healthcare system an estimated €1.2 billion - around 8.5% of the total annual healthcare budget
• Each night, 2,000 hospital beds are occupied for alcohol-related reasons
• 10% of all general in-patient hospital costs, 7% of GP costs and up to 30% of emergency department costs are alcohol-related
• An estimated €1.2 billion of tax payers’ money is spent on dealing with alcohol-related crime including violence and vandalism
• An estimated €527 million is lost on alcohol-related absenteeism and accidents in the work place
• Beyond the immeasurable human costs, each fatal car collision is estimated to cost the state €3 million. In 2007, alcohol-related road collisions cost an estimated €526 million
• A 30% reduction in alcohol-related harm would save taxpayers an estimated €1 billion a year, according to the Chief Medical Officer of Ireland

How much do children and young people drink?

• The average age of first alcohol use for children born in 1990 was 14 – in 1980, it was 16
• In the most recent survey of drinking among European 15 and 16‑year‑olds more Irish girls (44%) than boys (42%) reported binge-drinking in the last month  (2007 ESPAD survey)
• Over half reported being drunk at least once by the age of 16
• The survey identified “a major issue around drunkeness”
• A recent report by the Office of Tobacco Control (2006) revealed that our 16 to 17‑year‑olds spend an average of €20·09+ per week on alcohol. This amounts to an illegal alcohol market of €145m in this country

Alcohol and Families

• One in eleven children in Ireland say parental alcohol use has a negative effect on their lives - that is more than 100,000 children.
• A study of women who attended the Coombe Women’s Hospital found that almost two‑thirds (63%) of the 43,318 women surveyed said they drank alcohol during their pregnancy. Alcohol consumption, particularly in the first three months of pregnancy, can lead to disorders in how the brain develops in the womb

Alcohol, Mental Health and Suicide

• The level of drinking in Ireland is a significant influence on the suicide rate among young men
• Alcohol‑related disorders were the third most common reason for admission to Irish psychiatric hospitals between 1996 and 2005
• Alcohol use is often a factor in suicidal behaviour. In 2006/2007 alcohol was a factor in 41% of all cases of deliberate self-harm
• One Irish study of people from three counties who died as a result of suicide, found that more than half had alcohol in their blood
• Alcoholic disorders accounted for almost one in ten admission (9%) in terms of diagnosis of first admission of Irish psychiatric units and hospitals

Alcohol and Crime

• Alcohol has been identified as a contributory factor in 97% of public order offenses as recorded under the Garda PULSE system
• Alcohol-related offences increased by 30% between 2003 and 2007, from 50,948 to 66,406
• Almost half of the perpetrators of homicide were intoxicated when the crime was committed
• Alcohol was found to be a factor in almost half of all cases of sexual assaults on adults according to a major survey of sexual assault and violence in Ireland. In such cases, where only one party had been drinking, the perpetrator of the sexual assault was the one drinking in the majority of cases (84% of female and 70% of male sexual assault cases)
• Alcohol was identified as a potential trigger for abuse in one third of domestic abuse cases. Alcohol is considered a contributory factor and stressor in domestic violence

Alcohol and Youth Crime

• Alcohol offences are the main offence for which children are referred to the Garda Youth Diversion Programme, accounting for almost a fifth of youth crimes - in addition, many crimes are committed by young people when drinking. Bringing the proportion of crimes where alcohol is a factor up to half  all of all youth crimes.
• 85% of Garda Youth Diversion Programmes who took part in a 2009 study named alcohol related crime as first on the list of offences committed in their area. The offences committed when drinking were mainly public order and criminal damage, and to a lesser degree minor assault and trespass
• Alcohol related crime spikes at weekends, in the summer months and at calendar events, e.g., Hallow’een

Alcohol and Injuries

• More than one in four of those attending accident and emergency departments have alcohol‑related injuries, almost half of which occurred to people aged under 30 years
• Alcohol is a factor in one in four traumatic brain injuries

Alcohol and Health

• Every seven hours, someone in Ireland dies from an alcohol-related illness
• There are almost twice as many deaths due to alcohol as due to all other drugs combined
• Alcohol is a factor in up to one third of all deaths by unnatural causes, according to statistics from one county
• The harmful use of alcohol is especially fatal for younger age groups and alcohol is the world’s leading risk factor for death among males aged 15-59, according to the World Health Organisation
• Alcoholic liver disease rates and deaths almost trebled (190% increase) between 1995 and 2007. The figures also reveal considerable increases of alcohol liver disease among younger age groups. Among 15-34 years olds, the rate of ALD discharges increased by 247%, while for the 35-49 age group, the rate increased by 224%.These increases occurred in parallel with increases in alcohol consumption and harmful drinking patterns
• Alcohol-related admissions to acute hospitals doubled between 1995 and 2008
• Alcohol-related deaths also increased during the same period, from 3.8 deaths per 100,000 to 7.1 deaths per 100,000
• High levels of alcohol use and heavy drinking among young women are reflected in the fact that one in four women discharged from hospital for alcohol‑related conditions were aged under 30, compared to 17% of men under 30 discharged
• Between 1995 and 2004, there was an increase of 29% in the proportion of teenage girls aged under 18 discharged from hospital for alcohol‑related conditions compared to an increase of 9% for males under 18
• Chronic alcohol-related conditions are becoming increasingly common among young age groups. Between 2005 and 2008, 4,129 people aged under 30 were discharged from hospital with chronic diseases or conditions of the type normally seen in older people

Alcohol and Cancer

• One in 10 cancers in men and one in 33 in women are caused by drinking
• Many cancers, including cancer of the mouth, larynx, oesophagus, liver, colorectum and female breast, have a causal relationship to alcohol consumption
• Cancer of the liver has had the highest rate of increase of all cancer types between 1994 and 2003, increasing by 10.7% for females and 7.4% for males, compared to an increase for all cancers of 1.1% for females and 1.1% for males
• There is a risk relationship between the amount a woman drinks, and the likelihood of her developing the most common type of breast cancer. Drinking one standard alcoholic drink a day is associated with a 9% increase in the risk of developing breast cancer, while drinking 3-6 standard drinks a day increases the risk by 41%
• Three people in Ireland die from oral and pharyngeal cancer (OPC) every week - which is more than skin melanoma, hodgkin’s lymphoma or cervical cancer. Despite this, the disease remains largely unknown. It is also largely preventable as the two major risk factors for OPC are tobacco and alcohol consumption
• Figures compiled by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) show that Ireland has the second highest cancer rate in the world. Regular alcohol consumption is listed as one of the factors, along with high-fat diets and lack of exercise, contributing to the high cancer rates
• Alcohol and tobacco together are estimated to account for about three-quarters of oral cancer cases in Europe (Cancer Research UK 2009)
• It is estimated that up to 20% of breast cancer cases in the UK can be attributed to alcohol (World Cancer Research Fund 2010)
• The risk of bowel cancer increases by 8% for every two units of alcohol consumed a day

Alcohol and Women

• Four out of ten Irish woman drinkers report harmful drinking patterns - they are drinking at a level damaging to their mental or physical health
• One in 33 cancers in women are caused by drinking
• One in four Irish women discharged from hospital for alcohol-related conditions are aged under 30, compared to one in six men
• Women account for a quarter of all alcohol-related hospital discharges, but among those aged 17 and under, the proportion of discharges from hospital is almost half, at 47%
• Since 1995, Irish teenage girls have been drinking as much and sometimes more than their male counterparts
• Between 1995 and 2004, there was an increase of 29% in the proportion of Irish teenage girls aged under 18 discharged from hospital for alcohol related conditions compared to an increase of 9% for boys
• Drinking one standard alcoholic drink a day is associated with a 9% increase in the risk of developing breast cancer - while 3-6 drinks a day increases the risk by 41%
• A man who drinks six or more standard drinks a day is 13 times more likely to develop cirrhosis of the liver compared to a non-drinker: a woman needs only four standard drinks a day to increase her risk to the same degree. That’s about a half bottle of wine
• Women who drink four or more drinks a day are five times more likely than non-drinkers to develop mouth, oropharynx and laryngeal cancers and eight times

Men and Alcohol

• Seven in ten men in Ireland who drink are drinking in a way which is already causing damage to their health
• Men drink more often than women, with 45% of men reporting drinking 2-3 times in the previous week compared to 29% women
• Alcohol is the world’s leading risk factor for death among males aged 15-59, according to the World Health Organisation
• One in ten cancers in men is caused by alcohol
• The link between alcohol and suicide has been well established - four times the number of men as women die by suicide
• One in four deaths of young men aged 15-34 is due to alcohol
• One in five men aged 18-23 said they had been pushed, hit or assaulted in the past year as a result of someone else’s drinking
• Men are advised to drink no more than 21 standard drinks a week - the equivalent of roughly ten pints of regular beer - with no more than three standard drinks a day

Alcohol and Driving

• One in three crash deaths is alcohol-related
• Drink driving offences increased by 74% between 203 and 2007, from 11,421 to 19,864
• In the period from 2003 to 2005, approximately 120 people were killed each year in alcohol-related crashes
• In the same period, almost one third (31%) of crash deaths were alcohol-related
• Where Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) levels were available for drivers killed, almost six out of ten had alcohol in their blood
• One in every six drivers with alcohol in their blood, who were responsible for fatal crashes in 2003, were not above the legal limit

Main sources: Barry S, Kearney A, Lawlor E, McNamee E and Barry J (2006) The Coombe Women’s Hospital study of alcohol, smoking and illicit drug use, 1988–2005. Dublin: Coombe Women’s Hospital; Bedford D (2008) Drink Driving in Ireland. Presentation made at conference organised by the Road Safety Authority; Eurocare/COFACE (1998) Alcohol Problems in the Family: A Report to the European Union. England: Eurocare; Hope A (2008) Alcohol Related Harm In Ireland: Health Services Executive – Alcohol Implementation Group; Hope A (2007) Alcohol Consumption in Ireland 1986-2006. Health Services Executive – Alcohol Implementation Group; Mongan et al (2007) Health Related Consequences of Problem Alcohol Use. Overview 6. Dublin: Health Research Board; National Suicide Research Foundation (2008) National Registry of Deliberate Self-harm Ireland, Annual Report 2006-2007, Dental Health Foundation