‘THE average Irish adult is drinking the equivalent of a bottle of vodka a week — or downing 482 pints of lager a year.’
Culturally Irish people are renowned as being fond of the ‘craic’ or alcohol as ought to be its correct name. We’re fond of alcohol and the banter and shenanigans that surrounds have a few scoops. When dignitaries visit they are photographed sinking a ‘pint of the black’ as a matter of form. Our social and even religious celebrations revolve around drink and our weekends are often a licence to partake freely.
On the way to the airport this morning I listened to a news report that suggest our overall drinking, while still high, is down 17 percent, but there was a sense of ‘we got it on the run’ to the piece. A number of times over the last few weeks there have been calls for stricter regulations, there are calls to change minimal pricing, there are calls to ban advertising before certain times, to remove the connection between drink and sporting events. Everywhere you turn drink seems to be maligned.
‘You know, it might go the way of smoking.’ I said to the paramour, who snorted, muttered something about the Vintners being close to Mafia. But think about it, alcohol has been moved in supermarkets to its own section, away from the real groceries, off licences are closed earlier than before and are facing introduction of a law that forbids home delivery. Who knows what measure they will think up next.
Is this, do you think, the end of our cultural hooch association? Will drinking eventually be frowned upon the way smoking is now? Can you ever see it happening in your lifetime or will the current boo hiss hooch make the blindest bit of difference to our long-standing entanglement with alcohol.
February 8, 2012 at 1:06 pm |
we irish use alcohol as a device, among other things, to escape from reality.this means that we are caught in a vicious circle – escapism prevents us from confronting the very issues we want to escape from. we’ve been doing it for so long now – turning a blind eye – that its embedded into our culture. will we ever claw back our dignity? i honestly don’t know. i really hope so though, and of course regulating the sale of alcohol will help change our attitude towards it. its nearly impossible to find a single person in this country not affected by alcohol abuse, whether by injury or illness. its time we admitted that we have a tendency to lean on alcohol too much. but its part of a bigger problem indicative of our psyche, unfortunately.
February 8, 2012 at 2:10 pm |
Too much hyperbole there su, there are plenty of people easily found who are not affected by alcohol, be it through injury or illness. But I take your greater point that drinking is hugely part of our culture. We do need more realistic dialogue and a complete overhaul towards our attitude to drink.
February 8, 2012 at 1:10 pm |
I heard that figure – the bottle of vodka a week – and thought immediately of the one can of beer I’ve had in the last fortnight. Then I thought of all the adults in the country who don’t drink at all, ever.
That pushes the alleged average alcohol consumption up hugely for the rest – and would suggest extraordinarily heavy bingeing by some.
So I suspect the statistics – perhaps, since the sale of alcohol is illegal to underage persons, they have ascribed all alcohol consumption to adults?
I think drunkeness is increasingly frowned upon, and drink driving is becoming a thing of the past. That may be having a moderating effect on patterns of alcohol consumption by adults, at least in social settings.
Against that, the creeping bottle+ of wine per day with dinner seems to have become a pattern for lots of people who find themselves dependent on it before they realise it.
February 8, 2012 at 2:18 pm |
Yeah, I felt the figures were skewed, although have no evidence to prove it. Agree fully about drink driving, it seems to have been largely resolved in a single generation too, which is remarkable ( I remember going pub to pub with Gamma’s husband as a child, and on occasion driving/steering him home in first/second gear, at 9 or 10 years old FFS).
Drinking at a home seems to have had an effect on consumption, people – as you say for example with wine – are happy to stay in and embibe, where as when I was 18 or so, that was almost unheard of, as a result measure are larger, and it’s easier to justify it, where as if you were in the pub every night of the week, you’d be making folk cock and eyebrow. Last year I decided to rein in the hoochy love some, and of course it help to be always training for something or other, as you just can’t drink for toffee if you need to train the next day, but you’re absolutely correcct, it is easy to suddenly find yourself glancing at the clock at 9pm and thinking, ‘hmm, wine time.’
February 8, 2012 at 2:49 pm |
I’d like to see alcohol heavily regulated myself, I am one of those people who lives alcohol has affected negatively from alcoholics in my family to a friend disabled by a drunk driver. I’m not a big drinker, never have been, I’m a pot smoker, it’s been my drug of choice for over 20 years, I’ve never hurt anyone through being stoned, maybe annoyed them a little
Alcohol can be a dangerous drug, not for everyone as you say but there is a societal norm in Ireland, the big 18th birthday first legal pint etc that concerns me. The great laugh at a hungover friend or colleague, how are young folk supposed to make sense of it all?
I despair at the stereotype of the drunken Irish, even more so when people live up to it. It does us no service as a culture. In my opinion, there most certainly is a place for drugs (including alcohol) in society, people need and want an escape from time to time, something to take the edge off, there’s no question in my mind that inebriation has helped produce great art and music. I’d be in favour of legalizing all recreational drugs myself, I think there is far more danger in prescription medicines doled out willy nilly by overworked and misdirected doctors.
I applaud the shift in attitude towards drunken driving, I’d like to see better public transport options in rural areas so folks can imbibe if they choose to, I am a culchie myself I understand the need for a social outlet and the role a local pub plays in the community, it’s sad that so many folk, particularly the older generation, have lost that now and spend the evening drinking at home alone, it leaves them open to drink more as you say above. It’s mush easier to get a taxi in a city or town but if you live up the side of a mountain you have no option but to drive.
February 8, 2012 at 2:54 pm |
“Alcohol can be a dangerous drug, not for everyone as you say but there is a societal norm in Ireland, the big 18th birthday first legal pint etc that concerns me. The great laugh at a hungover friend or colleague, how are young folk supposed to make sense of it all?”
Agreed x100 Like a badge of honour to be absolutely rancid from a hangover. Agree too about better public transport in rural areas, but guess we’ll be awating that one for a while.
February 8, 2012 at 5:44 pm |
Nope I don’t think drinking will follow smoking, for one thing the campaign against smoking was to stop people smoking whereas the measures being discussed above are to curb excessive drinking, It’s not the same thing. (With good reason just one cigarette is bad for you whereas the same is not true of a solitary drink)
Nor do I think that the above measures will amount to much, not on their own anyway, we do need a culture shift but it wont be shoe horned into society with a ban, it needs to be more organic than that. E.g. Anyone remember the café culture measures that McDowell tried to introduce a few years back? I kinda think it was half of a good idea but again not enough on its own.
February 8, 2012 at 6:36 pm |
I liked that idea too, but wonder would it work here as it does abroad. It might work to destylise drink, or it might backfire horribly. Hard to know really, Gothy works in a late bar in the city-centre and she says they need to gird their loins Thursday to Sunday as folk become virtually unhinged. She claims alcopops and Wkd are the absolute worst because they are so easy to drink and girls especially drink a LOT of them then BANG, totally wasted. Of course she gives out about it, then when they finish work around 4am, they’re wired so go straight to another bar for staff drinks.
February 9, 2012 at 12:17 pm
Nothing like a bit of work on the other side of the fence to give a practical demonstration of the combustibility of alcohol + people!
February 9, 2012 at 12:22 pm
heh, for sure, a wee bit of an eye opener it seems. Especially ‘cougar night’ apparently. When I asked, I was informed that involved people my age, ‘but don’t worry, they’re not like you’ on the prowl. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She did say they could hold their drink, though they could also hold the male floor staff with equal measure.
February 8, 2012 at 8:46 pm |
Poor Gothy, bar work is the devil. Terribly the poor minion has to endure it. Can’t believe that about alcopops, I thought they where gone with the wind.
I was in favor of the cafe bar licences too, but since most of the dail where either publicans or Vintners affiliates it was never going to come to pass. One thing though, the few places that did get the Cafe Licence did exploit them and turned the venues into super pubs. I am in favor of the Cafe Licence but there are a few loop holes in those licenses that need to be snapped shut first.
Where booze is concerned I would be in favor of degulation as opposed to more regulation. I agree It is a drug, but it is slightly different in that it can be moderated. For example, if like in France you gave a five year old a dribble of wine topped with 7up or if a 14 year old had a glass of beer with dinner, they aren’t really gonna be dying to experience alcohol when they are on their own are they? My parents let us drink and whilst our mates got hammered none of us could see what the big deal was.
February 8, 2012 at 10:13 pm |
Indeed, she says people don’t even realise they’re drunk on alcopops until suddenly they are legless. She had a few choice things to say about Redbull too, which, were she a little dictator, she would ban outright as she says is sends people ‘mental’.
February 8, 2012 at 10:37 pm
In fairness, I agree with her, the smell of Red Bull alone makes me want to hurl. Imagine walking up beside someone who had been drinking that all night. Yuck.. She is most likely right about it making people crazy too, I was out Sat night, we witnessed 5 fights in the space of an hour. I felt so sorry for the poor staff, they could easily fall victim of drunken stupidity. I hope little Gothy minds herself well. Alas, oíche mhaith dhuit.
February 8, 2012 at 9:16 pm |
So someone who goes for 3 or 4 pints twice a week is overindulging?
For.Fuck.Sake.
When will they stop making everyone out to be be a problem drinker.It’s not like there’s not enough out there without making more.
“I’ve some extremely distressing news.”………
“We just ran out of wine. What are we gonna do about it? “
February 8, 2012 at 10:10 pm |
Binge drinking apparently, 4-5 pints, which would be a normal amount for more of my peers, who drink beer.
February 8, 2012 at 11:05 pm |
It would probably be a good thing if our drinking levels became more civilised, but it’s not going to happen from being pushed into it, like prohibition, it has to happen as a social awareness of the problems associated with it.
That said, I really enjoy getting very drunk occassionally.
It’s a lot of fun.
February 9, 2012 at 11:08 am |
There’s drunk and there’s drunk though, pleasantly tipsy is one thing, but catatonic is another, and you can see plenty of the latter any night of the weekend here.