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advocating to reduce alcohol harm


900 days since the Public Health Alcohol Bill began its legislative journey, and still no end in sight.

As this week (28 May) marks the passing of 900 days since the Public Health Alcohol Bill began its legislative passage through the Houses of the Oireachtas, Alcohol Action Ireland has called on the Minister for Health, Simon Harris TD, to renew his focus and prioritise the legislation. Over that time, sadly the shocking levels of alcohol related harms have continued unabated: 2,700 deaths were alcohol related; that is three per day. 9,894 cases of alcohol related self-harm have been... Full Story


Opinion Piece: Why we must regulate the labelling of alcohol products.

In recent weeks there has been a sustained undermining of the Government’s proposed Public Health Alcohol Bill, and specifically, the measures to regulate the labelling of alcohol products to include nutritional and health warning information. Much of this negative comment has emanated from artisan producers of alcohol products. These fledgling micro brewers and distillers, who in a parody of ‘David and Goliath’ roles, seek to maximise a doubt in the public’s mind about the Bill’s efficacy and instigate further delay... Full Story


Alcohol Action Ireland rejects ABFI’s assessment of the EU Commission’s Comments on the Public Health Alcohol Bill.

In response to the recent comments from the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland (ABFI: 7th May), Alcohol Action Ireland have refuted the assertion that the EU Commission has stated that Ireland’s proposed measures, as outlined in the Public Health Alcohol Bill, ‘go beyond what is required to effectively tackle alcohol misuse’. In its ‘Comments’ to the Government of Ireland, the EU Commission makes clear its concerns are primarily regarding the possible impact on the export of alcoholic beverages to Ireland,... Full Story


Scottish introduction of Minimum Unit Pricing will save lives

Scottish introduction of Minimum Unit Pricing will save lives  Alcohol Action Ireland today (1st May) welcomed the introduction of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) on alcohol in Scotland. This comes after what has been an incredible, six-year battle against ‘big alcohol’ who sought, at every opportunity, to derail the Scottish government’s public health policy.  The introduction of MUP in Scotland is forecasted to save over 50 lives in year one of implementation. Alcohol Focus Scotland have said that MUP will help... Full Story


Alcohol Action remain confident of the primacy of Public Health measures

Alcohol Action Ireland note the close of the EU Commission's TRIS notification procedure [23.59, Friday 20th April] on Ireland's amended Public Health alcohol legislation. While the 'Comments' received from Member States such as Denmark, France, Greece, Romania Slovakia and United Kingdom will be of interest, we note that the Commission has opted, at this point, to make comment only on the proposed amendments to the Bill, as passed by Seanad Éireann last December. While these Comments and the Detailed Opinion from Member States' Portugal and Italy... Full Story


The extraordinary burden on others from Ireland’s harmful use of alcohol.

New research report highlights an untold story:   the extraordinary burden on others from Ireland’s harmful use of alcohol.    ·         One in two people have been bothered and harassed, felt afraid and unsafe from strangers’ drinking. ·         Two in five people are stressed and threatened, and have experienced familial difficulties, in a blend of psychological and tangible harms, from drinkers they know.  ·         Children, so often the silent voice, are negatively affected from someone else’s drinking and experience specific harms including verbally abuse and witness to serious violence in their homes.  ·         For one in seven workers, alcohol is making a significant factor in their workplace, where extra work hours and days lost impacted on... Full Story


Alcohol Action Ireland calls for Ireland’s drinking guidelines to be revised.

Alcohol Action Ireland today urged the Department of Health to initiate a review of Ireland’s current recommended low-risk drinking guidelines in light of the findings from a recently published study in the Lancet, which supports limits for alcohol consumption that are lower than those currently recommended. The study, led by University of Cambridge and funded by the UK Medical Research Council, British Heart Foundation, the UK National Institute for Health Research, European Union Framework 7 and European Research Council, and... Full Story


We deserve better – reaction to alcohol industry self-regulatory proposal for labelling 

JOINT PRESS STATEMENT  Brussels, Belgium, 12th March 2018  We deserve better – reaction to alcohol industry self-regulatory proposal for labelling  Last year the European Commission provided the alcohol industry with the opportunity to come up with a self-regulatory proposal on alcohol labelling, an opportunity which the industry has ignored.   In their Joint Statement, the alcohol industry is avoiding the responsibility to inform consumers at the point of sale in an easy and accessible manner. The industry has failed today.  The... Full Story


Public Health Alcohol Bill remains the key legislative framework to sustain a new momentum to reduce our consumption levels

Alcohol Action note today’s (6th March) release from Revenue on the provisional alcohol clearance data for 2017 and welcomes a downward indicator for the nation’s alcohol consumption. The data for 2016 had demonstrated a 4.8% increase while 2017, using revised population projections from the CSO, would appear to show a positive decline in per capita consumption to 11 litres for every person over 15 years old; a welcome but modest 1.3% reduction. Eleven litres for every person over 15 years... Full Story


Public Health (Alcohol) Bill offers Dáil Éireann historic opportunity to deal with Ireland’s harmful relationship with alcohol

Alcohol Action Ireland today welcomed the commencement of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill before Dáil Éireann this evening (6th Feb). This marks a major milestone for the proposed legislation especially at a time when alcohol consumption in Ireland continues to rise and alcohol harms have never been more pronounced. Regrettably over the duration of the two-year legislative delay experienced so far, our national consumption levels of alcohol have continued to rise, a further 2100 lives have been lost to alcohol... Full Story


Latest Reports

Alcohol Action Ireland Annual Accounts 2017

Audited accounts for the ending 31 December 2017

application/pdf 3.2 MiB DOWNLOAD

Submission to TRIS Notification 2018/22/IRL

This is Alcohol Action Ireland's submission to the EU Commission's TRIS notification process: 2018/22/IRL, commenced to examine aspects of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill, 2015.

application/pdf 249.4 KiB DOWNLOAD

PreBudget Submission 2018

Pre Budget submission to the Department of Finance August 2018

application/pdf 887.0 KiB DOWNLOAD
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