Students to get stark reminder on alcohol

STUDENTS celebrating freshers week will be warned of the dangers posed by alcohol when they visit the toilet in college bars …

STUDENTS celebrating freshers week will be warned of the dangers posed by alcohol when they visit the toilet in college bars across the country over the coming days.

The “You’re drop dead gorgeous . . . ’til you drop down drunk” poster campaign is designed to attract the attention of students where drinkaware.ie says the effects of alcohol are often first felt – in the toilets of student bars.

Toilet cubicle floors in seven college bars nationwide will contain life-size images of people who have fallen unconscious as a result of drinking too much, while bathroom mirrors will remind students that while they might look “drop dead gorgeous” now, this won’t be the case if “they drop down drunk”.

Drinkaware.ie chief executive Fionnuala Sheehan said the campaign would act as “a stark reminder to students that this is what they could look like or how they will end up if they drink beyond their limit on a night out”.

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Ms Sheehan said this year’s campaign follows a pilot project last year to which drinkaware.ie received “very positive feedback” with many students saying it made them stop and think.

Drinkaware.ie is also distributing its No Nonsense guide to students in colleges across Ireland.

The guide offers hints and tips to students on surviving the hectic college social scene but also challenges a number of myths about drinking.

President of the Union of Students in Ireland Gary Redmond welcomed the initiative and insisted it did not mean that students can’t go out and have fun.

Éanna Ó Caollaí

Éanna Ó Caollaí

Iriseoir agus Eagarthóir Gaeilge An Irish Times. Éanna Ó Caollaí is The Irish Times' Irish Language Editor, editor of The Irish Times Student Hub, and Education Supplements editor.