Media

Language & stigma  How we talk about people who have problems with alcohol and other drugs directly affect those living with dependency issues. Research clearly indicates that using the right language can improve health outcomes, and conversely using stigmatising language can actually prevent people from seeking help and make them feel even more isolation.  For example, calling someone an “addict” dehumanizes that person and an extensive body of research on this topic demonstrates that language and stigma are intrinsically linked.  Research... Full Story

How we talk about people who have problems with alcohol and other drugs directly affect those living with dependency issues. Research clearly indicates that using the right language can improve health outcomes, and conversely using stigmatising language can actually prevent people from seeking help and make them feel even more isolation.  For example, calling someone an “addict” dehumanizes that person and an extensive body of research on this topic demonstrates that language and stigma are intrinsically linked.  Research has demonstrated that,... Full Story

A recent newspaper article has drawn attention to a new departure for alcohol brands whereby zero alcohol products are displayed outside dedicated alcohol areas in shops and supermarkets. Similarly, there has been extensive advertising of zero alcohol products in public spaces where alcohol advertising is now prohibited such as on public transport and in sporting settings.  It was suggested in the article that “drinks giants have been gifted” an opportunity to promote zero-alcohol products.  In fact, it’s much more likely... Full Story

This week saw the launch of the Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual & Gender-Based Violence 2022-2026. The strategy took more than a year to complete and there was wide consultation, in which AAI took part. The Strategy’s goal and guiding mission is clear: Zero Tolerance of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, and has an extensive implementation plan attached.   Given the care and time that was taken to develop this strategy, it is difficult to understand why alcohol is not mentioned, even once, in either the... Full Story

 This week Alcohol Action Ireland convened a panel of experts with voices from those in recovery, service providers and research to discuss the significant gap between alcohol treatment provision and need and the barriers that people face in accessing what is available.   To say there is a gap is a very diplomatic way of highlighting what in fact is a huge chasm between what’s required and what is currently in place. Studies by the Health Research Board have found 14.8%... Full Story

In a recently published working paper: The i-frame and the s-frame: how focusing on the individual-level solutions has led behavioural public policy astray, co-authored by Nick Chater & George Loewenstein, both who had long subscribed to the influential line of thinking of behavioural science that many of society’s most pressing problems could be addressed cheaply and effectively at the level of individual, without modifying the system in which they operate, express a belief that this was a mistake. Their conclusion... Full Story

The Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022 (OSMR) is currently making its way through the houses of the Oireachtas. It is a long-awaited piece of legislation that will do much to reduce the exposure of children to harmful online content.   Alcohol Action Ireland in particular is interested in ensuring that children are protected from digital alcohol advertising and the insidious practices of tracking, profiling and targeting young people to market harmful and addictive products.  Unfortunately, in this area, the... Full Story

Alcohol Action support a reform and modernisation of the alcohol licensing process, which is largely archaic, and as such, is frequently exploited by commercial opportunism. Over recent years, while modified social norms have influenced a change in some alcohol behaviours, the principal concerns of alcohol contributing to significant crime, public disorder and safety, remain central to the public rational for adequate controls on the sale of alcohol. Today, with a much deeper understanding of the risk to human health from... Full Story

Alcohol use has historically been more prevalent among men, but today as the gender gap narrows, women are drinking more than previous generations.  Alcohol is a leading global factor for early death for young women. According to data published in a global study, Irish women are near the top of the table worldwide for heavy drinking, ranking seventh while adolescent girls in Ireland are among the highest binge drinkers in the world, ranking third. Saddest of all, in Ireland in... Full Story