Alcohol Action Ireland press release, Tuesday, 13 October 2026
Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI), the national independent advocate to reduce alcohol harm, is proud to announce the official launch of its latest report, Childhood, interrupted – Parental problem alcohol use and its harms to children, at Buswells Hotel, Dublin 2, tomorrow (Wednesday, 14 October) at 11am.
Joining AAI CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany in the discussion will be:
- Michael Hennessy, Service Delivery Manager at Move Ireland
- Elizabeth Donlon Fox, ISPCC, National Coordinator for Childline
- Maria O’Dwyer of Prevention and Early Intervention Network
- Alan Cleere, manager of Rialto Community Drug Team
The report, which is published as part of AAI’s Silent Voices initiative and features a foreword by Ombudsman for Children, Dr Niall Muldoon, explores the impact of parental problem alcohol use (PPAU) on the physical and mental health of families, partners, and children, and how these harms can last a lifetime. National and international research is collated and it also includes evidence from the frontline including data from MOVE Ireland, ISPCC and the Canal Communities study of Hidden Harm, along with testimony from a Childline Therapeutic Support Worker and a case study of a Childline caller.
AAI CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany said: “PPAU is a significant and long-recognised Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE), with often lifelong implications for the physical and mental health of victims. In Ireland, Health Research Board data indicates that a third of children have a parent who is either a regular binge drinker or is dependent on alcohol. While a HSE survey has found that at least one in six children – that’s more than 200,000 children – have been harmed by PPAU. In many incidences alcohol use is the catalyst to significant domestic disruption and abuse.
“Research further indicates that 1 in 4 Irish people may have grown up in the presence of problematic alcohol use. Including partners of those drinking at problematic levels, this suggests that it is likely more than 1.5 million people across the state are, or have been, affected by alcohol harm in the home.
“The outworking of this is both immediate and lasting harm as PPAU is strongly linked to neglect, abuse, mental and physical health difficulties, family breakdown, and alcohol-fuelled violence.
“While the impact of PPAU has been published in various studies, very little is known about the lives and experiences of children affected by the issue from their own perspectives. Denial and secrecy are hallmarks of this issue, and children’s voices too often go unheard. Using accounts given through the initiative’s Shared Voices online platform, this report both illustrates the research data and gives a voice to the child throughout – from the childhood perspective of living with PPAU, to the impact in later life on the adult child.”
Tomorrow’s event forms part of End the Silence 2026. End the Silence is an annual series of events to raise awareness of the issues arising from growing up with alcohol harm in the home.
Dr Gilheany continued: “This report looks to tackle PPAU and its harms to children in the only way possible: to identify it, talk about it, and to demand services and support to those affected – especially children.
“It also looks at how government can limit its frequency by reducing alcohol consumption at a population level. This, however, will take a coordinated, whole-of-government response, which places the reduction of alcohol consumption and its harms to children at the heart of government policy.
“Unless we put the lives and experiences of children affected to the forefront of policy making, then they will continue to suffer. We can no longer ignore the role of alcohol in the maltreatment and abuse of children. There is ample evidence of the corrosive role PPAU plays in stealing childhoods and devastating adulthoods.
“There is a need for government policy across multiple departments to recognise the role alcohol plays in devastating childhoods and respond with progressive policy responses to address this.”
Ombudsman for Children, Dr Niall Muldoon, said: “This report is a timely reminder of the wide range of risks that children can face in everyday life. I have visited enough domestic refuges and family hubs, and spoken with enough children about their lives there, to know that alcohol abuse is still a major destroyer of lives across this country. It is too often overlooked when the trauma of those children is being discussed.
“All children have the right to feel safe from harm, to have a family life (free from fear), to have a secure home and to be able to reach their potential through good education and health services. Unfortunately, what this report clearly highlights is that too many of our children are being exposed to harmful behaviours, violence and poverty as a result of parental problem alcohol use (PPAU). We need to ensure that adequate supports are in place for families in these situations, and there is equal access to treatment for parents in addiction.
“This report should be a real wake-up call for Irish society – enough is enough. We need to recognise the enormous damage being done across every city, town and village in Ireland by through alcohol abuse. This report goes on to recommend ways in which we can do better for these children and reduce the trauma that they have to go through, at the most vulnerable stages of their lives. I urge the government to give serious consideration to these recommendations and to demonstrate its commitment through meaningful and sustained investment in their delivery.”
Silent Voices patron Ailbhe Smyth said: “Problem alcohol use in the home can deeply disrupt families and frequently there can be compounding issues such as domestic abuse, which can have a hugely damaging impact on children who witness or experience it. The fear and powerlessness children feel in such circumstances can leave mental scars that last a lifetime and often when a child has mental health needs they are manifesting some trauma in the family. As a society we are in denial about the harm alcohol causes to children. It is imperative that we start to take this issue more seriously and to realise the impact that problem alcohol use in the home has on children and start looking more closely at what can be done to support them.”
Places for tomorrow’s event, which is free, are limited but still available, and can be booked here
ENDS
