Alcohol Action Ireland today (19 November) note the results of the ‘My World Survey 2’ – The National Study of Youth Mental Health in Ireland, published by Jigsaw/UCD.
The results demonstrate the harmful impact of alcohol in young lives and reinforces the fact that there is no safe limit for children to consume alcohol. Analyses revealed a clear link between harmful and hazardous levels of alcohol behaviour and psychological distress.
The research examined alcohol behaviour amongst adolescents and clearly highlights the progressive enrolment of our youth into early drinking and familiarity with alcohol as they progress through post primary education. The data highlights the speed at which Ireland’s alcohol culture captures our adolescents with 8% having drank in first year of school rising to 87% by Leaving cert year.
Ireland cannot be proud of these figures.
Commenting on the data published, Eunan McKinney, Head of Communications and Advocacy, Alcohol Action Ireland, said:
This data reveals how effect the capturing of our children by alcohol marketing and promotion is proving to be; by the time these kids are 18 years old they immediate join the cohort as the EU’s leading binge drinkers.
That is why the recent measures that introduced some controls on alcohol advertising are so important to curbing alcohol market development.
Crucially, this timely research demonstrates, yet again, the urgency for Government to introduce Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP). This age group are particularly price sensitive so introducing MUP can have a significant impact on the level of consumption amongst young adults.
