Alcohol intake down 24% in 15 years

DESPITE our reputation for being hard drinkers, we appear to be drinking less.

Latest figures from the Revenue Commissioners’ alcohol clearance data shows there is a 23.9% drop in alcohol consumption in Ireland in the past 15 years. In 2001, alcohol consumption in Ireland was at its peak.

The study, carried out by Dublin City University, used the Revenue Commissioners’ figures to calculate the average alcohol intake per adult in Ireland last year.

The findings, which were released this week, also showed we are drinking 11.013 litres of alcohol per person which is a 0.7% drop per person compared with 2014. Cider drinking has fallen by 6.9% while wine consumption has seen a 2.2% rise.

Drinks Industry Group of Ireland chair and chief executive of Heineken Ireland, Maggie Timoney, said: ‘The drinks industry is committed to working with the Government in the context of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill to find workable, effective solutions to address misuse.’

An Alcohol Action Ireland spokesman said: ‘There was a very slight, but welcome decrease of less than 1% in our alcohol consumption in 2015. Though our consumption is down from its all-time high of over 14 litres per capita, the trend is not moving steadily downwards and our alcohol consumption remains higher now than in 2013.

‘At our current level of 11 litres, we not only retain very high levels of alcohol consumption, but our culture of binge drinking exacerbates the harm.’