Letter to the Irish Independent
So the country is shocked at what its youth gets up to when they gather to drink at a music festival. Spare me. Go to any town on a weekend night.
The people who fall out of the pubs, go home with strangers and get involved in fights are the same people who are now ringing ‘Liveline’ to complain about the young people. What do you think happens at every other music festival? Those adults don’t go to listen to music — they go to get drunk.
Can we please accept that the alcoholism in this country is almost beyond fixing at this stage and that no amount of ‘shocking scenes of drunk and disorderly youth’ will stir anybody to change anything?
The change must come from us, the adults. Until we realise that children learn from their parents’ behaviour and that our present alcohol consumption is shameful, we will never succeed in showing children the danger of the drug.
Until that time, I know I will be immersed in typically Irish behaviour: adults railing all day about young people acting like animals, before leaving work to kick back with a glass of wine or a pint from the pub.
I think I’m going to be sick.
Aileen Bowe
Moate, Co Laois
