Alcohol Action Ireland press release, Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI), the national independent advocate to reduce alcohol harm, welcomes the increase in the numbers who accessed alcohol treatment services in 2025 – up by 53 cases from 2024 – according to the Health Research Board’s (HRB) alcohol treatment report for 2025, published today.
The report shows 8,798 treatment cases in 2025, compared with 8,745 in 2024. However, with 14.8% of the population in Ireland, 578,000 people, showing evidence of an alcohol use disorder (AUD), 90,000 at a severe level, the gap between treatment needs and provision in Ireland remains significant.
AAI CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany said: “While we welcome the slight increase in treatment cases since 2024, given the scale of the problem alcohol treatment is clearly not getting the resources required for a problem that causes so much harm not only to the individual but also to families and communities.
“AAI is calling for funding to be provided to the HSE to develop its own treatment services that are trauma-informed, holistic and widely available at the time of need. A target of increasing alcohol treatment presentations by at least 20% annually for a five-year period should be set. Funding must also be provided for Alcohol Care Teams linked to all large hospitals. Such teams are a proven cost-effective approach to providing much needed interventions for people with entrenched problem alcohol use.
“One way to fund such badly needed initiatives would be to increase alcohol excise duties in the next Budget. Excise duties, which have the dual benefit of raising much needed revenue while at the same time helping reduce population-level alcohol consumption and therefore its associated harms, have not been increased in over 12 years so their public health benefit has been eroded by inflation. The government should also develop a ‘polluter pays’ alcohol levy system similar to the gambling industry’s Social Impact Fund, with funding raised to be ringfenced for alcohol harm reduction strategies.”
What is particularly striking in the HRB report is that among cases with childrenaged 17 years or under, almost half (48.8%) had at least one child residing with them at the time of treatment entry. For women, this figure is 65%. This shows there is a huge need to provide services and supports to children in their own right.
Dr Gilheany continued: “Children are the invisible victims of alcohol harm, and this report only underscores the scale of the issue. In Ireland, we know that one in three children are living with a parent who regularly binge drinks or is dependent on alcohol, most of whom are not receiving treatment. Parental problem alcohol use (PPAU) has long been recognised as an ACE (adverse childhood experience) and is often a gateway to multiple other ACEs including parental mental health problems, domestic violence, sexual abuse and loss of a parent.
“Dedicated funding must be provided to HSE and Tusla to give the national Hidden Harm framework – that recognises the adverse childhood experience of growing up with parental problem substance use – momentum and urgency. It requires an action plan that should be publicly available, with clear targets, timeframes and funding. Training for staff is available, but again this needs a significant injection of resources and momentum. A survey of mental health professionals found a significant need and want for more training in this area – essential if adult legacy issues are also to be addressed.
“Alcohol places a heavy burden on the State with costs of at least €14bn annually arising from health, justice and loss of workplace productivity. This does not account for the cost of the harm from Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) which 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, which are estimated to cost €2.4bn annually in lifetime service needs. There are also major costs associated with PPAU and related ACEs, with the fallout from ACEs across the lifespan estimated to cost Ireland a further €11.3bn per year.
“Against that, alcohol excise duties only raise €1.2bn annually. This is why Ireland must take a public health approach to taxation, one that recognises and accounts for the heavy burden alcohol places not just on individuals but on society as a whole, and increase excise duties in the next Budget.”
ENDS
