SPORTS ADVERTISING AND sponsorship by alcohol companies is to be phased out “over a reasonable period of time”, Deputy Minister Roisín Shortall said this week.

SHARES in cider maker C&C fell yesterday after the company said sales were hit by changing drinking habits which mean that consumers are drinking at home and avoiding pubs.

The Government should push through plans to limit the sale of alcohol, and alcohol sponsorship of sport and culture events despite Cabinet divisions, Kathleen Lynch, the junior health minister, said yesterday.

ALCOHOL SPONSORSHIP of sports events is to be ended, Minister of State for Health Róisín Shortall has pledged. “I am committed to phasing that out over a reasonable period of time,” she said in the Dáil.

More than a fifth of young people aged 12-25 years say they have engaged in self-harm and 7pc have tried suicide. The findings which have emerged in a survey of 14,306 young people found a strong link between excessive drinking and suicidal behaviour.

on 16/05/2012 00:00:00 The findings come from a 14,306-person study on youth mental health, described as Ireland's first comprehensive national examination of the country's youth mental health issues, which will be published today.

International research on drinking indicates that Irish society would benefit from a minimum price being set for alcohol. Yesterday, Scotland introduced new rules to tackle binge-drinking, setting the lowest price for alcohol at 50p (60c) per unit.

- 04:18 PM Junior Health Minister Roisin Shorthall has said that Ireland's new minimum alcohol pricing will be similar to Scotland's. The Scottish government today announced that it is imposing a price floor of 50p per unit of alcohol - or just over 60c - in a bid to tackle binge drinking.

The Government is considering watering down a key recommendation in an expert report aimed at addressing the availability of cheap alcohol.

OPINION: When it comes to laws curbing drink-related problems, the Coalition like earlier governments frets about upsetting the drinks industry, writes BRIAN O'CONNELL SINCE THE early noughties, successive Irish governments have made noises in relation to tackling our ongoing and dysfunctional rela