Alcohol Action Ireland press release,18 Nov 2024
Next government must establish an Office for Alcohol Harm Reduction
Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI) welcomes the upcoming General Election as an opportunity for the people of Ireland to have their voices heard on the issues that matter most and AAI believes that reducing harm from alcohol is one of them.
Political parties are setting out their positions on multiple issues from crime to health to the economy. Alcohol harm permeates all these areas, yet government responses are disjointed and often contradictory. Alcohol harm costs high-income countries like Ireland 2.5% of GDP – €12bn annually – according to the World Health Organisation. 1,500 hospital beds are in use daily due to alcohol harm; almost one million people have grown up with a problem drinker in the home; 600,000 people are classified as having alcohol use disorder and 37% of driver fatalities with a toxicology result available had a positive toxicology for alcohol.
Addressing alcohol harm is currently spread across a number of government departments including Health, Justice, Education, Finance and Media. For this reason, AAI is calling for the establishment of an Office for Alcohol Harm Reduction to drive policy thinking and to coordinate a coherent cross-government approach to Ireland’s cheapest, most widely available and harmful drug.
AAI CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany said: “The lead-up to the General Election is a great opportunity for people to tell the politicians that your vote depends on their action on alcohol harm issues. Successive governments have failed to grasp the extent of the issues around alcohol harm, not helped by the fact that there is not one body or department that oversees alcohol policy. This spread of resources and the lack of a dedicated staffing complement within one office/unit dilutes progress for a robust strategic response to reducing Ireland’s alcohol harm burden, now and into the future. It also gives space for vested interests to exploit and to stymie a coherent response.”
It is envisioned that an Office for Alcohol Harm Reduction would take the lead on developing the coherent policy response that is required. Ideally this would include:
- licensing
- marketing controls
- strategic development of alcohol services
- education/prevention programming
- commissioning of relevant data monitoring and evaluation of policy
Some examples of current incoherent thinking include the Dept of Health seeking to reduce alcohol use via the Public Health (Alcohol) Act but the Dept of Justice seeking to increase alcohol availability through longer licensing hours via the Sale of Alcohol Bill, a contradiction which even vintners raised in meetings with the Dept of Justice. Serious concerns have been raised by An Garda Síochána directly with the Department of Justice pointing out ‘the inevitable public order consequences’ of such a move and the increasing burden on already overstretched resources.
Likewise pricing of alcohol is known to be the strongest policy lever in relation to alcohol yet excise duties have not changed in 11 years meaning their public health impact is being eroded.
Dr Gilheany continued: “An Office for Alcohol Harm Reduction – which would have far-reaching impacts on areas such as health, crime, drink driving, education, workplace productivity and children and family impacts – is long overdue. It would do away with the siloed, contradictory thinking that goes on presently in government, where we end up with the situation of two different government departments developing alcohol legislation with completely opposite end goals. Ireland has previously developed successful strategies to other public health concerns such as the establishment of the Office for Tobacco Control which, according to Micheál Martin, ‘gave us capacity to deal with the issue’. However, the same cannot be said of Ireland’s response to alcohol.
“A much greater focus on alcohol is required by the next Government. Addressing alcohol issues requires a co-ordinated ‘whole-of-government’ approach, which means we urgently need a dedicated resource such as an Alcohol Office to drive the necessary change. AAI is calling on all political parties to commit to putting in place a structure that can finally deliver sensible, coherent alcohol policy which would go a long way to reducing alcohol’s heavy burden.”
ENDS
For media queries please contact
Sheila Gilheany 086 2600903
