The problem of underage drinking in Ireland will never be addressed unless the strong link between sporting and music events and alcohol advertising is broken, according to a member of the Strategic Task Force on Alcohol.
Specialist in public health medicine with the HSE East region, Dr Joe Barry, pointed out that there are about 150,000 people drinking underage in Ireland according to the latest European School Survey Programme on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) report.
Dr Barry will speak on the topic of young people and alcohol at a public seminar being organised by the Mayo Mental Health Association in Castlebar next week called Who Cares? Alcohol and Drugs Misuse by Teenagers.
"The message I will be putting across is that there are a lot of people underage drinking in Ireland and we need to take effective measures to prevent this problem from getting worse. The Strategic Task Force on Alcohol has made some recommendations, but really there has been no concerted actions to tackle underage drinking in this country," he said.
Dr Barry is calling for a limit on the exposure of children to alcohol advertising on TV and to end sponsorship of sporting events and music festivals by alcohol companies.
"Sport and music events are pretty much saturated by alcohol. What the marketing and advertising of alcohol does is to create a demand. We shouldn't really allow alcohol companies to create this demand the way they have so far.
"We can change this by breaking the links between sport and music - as these are the two biggest leisure pursuits of young people - and alcohol. The Government has accepted that this is a problem, now it needs to do something about it," he said.
The seminar on the effects of drug and alcohol misuse by teenagers will be addressed by a panel of guests including Prof Patricia Casey, professor of psychiatry, UCD and Mater Hospital, Dublin, Midwest radio broadcaster, Tommy Marren and members of the Clondalkin Addiction Support Programme.
In a 2003 survey, almost a third of schoolgoing 16-year-olds said they had been drunk at least 20 times, a quarter said they had been drunk at least three times in the previous month, and almost one-third admitted to binge drinking at least three times in the previous month.
About one-eighth of the adult population in Galway, Roscommon and Mayo has used cannabis at least once, according to an all-Ireland Drug Prevalence Survey carried out in 2004. Meanwhile, research shows that cocaine use is increasing, and not just in major centres of population.
Chairman of Mayo Mental Health Association, PJ Murphy, believes it is essential that the community in Co Mayo has an opportunity to debate and explore the issues and challenges arising from the misuse of drugs and alcohol by the young.
"We are hoping that this seminar will inform people, challenge preconceptions and identify actions that we, as a community, can take to address the issues," he said.
Mr Murphy explained that attitudes to illegal drugs, such as cannabis, ecstasy, cocaine and heroin, will be contrasted with our very different attitude to the legal drug, alcohol, during the seminar.
The public, particularly young members of the community, are invited to join the panel in the Welcome Inn Hotel, Castlebar, on Monday, November 19th at 8pm for a wide-ranging discussion on issues relating to drug and alcohol misuse among the young.
