Alcohol, children & young people

As outlined in our strategic plan, Alcohol Action Ireland believes that all young people are entitled to a childhood free from alcohol harm, and that protecting children from harm is not just a public health issue but a human rights one. 

To protect children and young people from direct and indirect alcohol harm government policy must be multifaceted, agile, and evidence based. Naturally this means having bespoke and population-based alcohol policy to protect them the direct harm associated with drinking, but policy must also protect children and young people from the indirect harms caused by other people’s drinking.

Firstly, children and young people, as well as the unborn, must be protected from the impact of alcohol-related harms that include issues such as: 

• Drinking during pregnancy can harm the unborn and cause Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). These are a group of disorders caused by prenatal alcohol exposure and are associated with a range of lifelong physical, mental, learning/educational, social, and behavioural difficulties.[i] Ireland is estimated to have the third highest prevalence of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in the world. 
• In Ireland, an estimated 1 in 6 young people are impacted by parental problem alcohol use, an adverse childhood experience that can have lasting impacts into adulthood. 
• Every year in Ireland, 50,000 children in Ireland start drinking. Starting to drink alcohol as a child, which is the norm rather than the exception in Ireland, is more likely to lead to heavy episodic drinking and is a known risk factor for later dependency. 
• Adolescents and young people have the highest levels of binge drinking of any age cohort in Ireland,[ii] and have the fifth highest weekly alcohol consumption rates in the EU.[iii]