seminar in conjunction with Depaul Ireland 13.03.13

Fiona RyanAlcohol Action Irelandwww.alcoholireland.ie

Alcohol in Ireland: An Overview

Alcohol Action Ireland

Established in 2003/ work to create awareness of alcohol-related harm and solutions need to reduce that harm

Run www.alcoholireland.ie and www.drinkhelp.ie

Steering group of National Substance Misuse Strategy

Campaign: minimum pricing – 30 strong NGO coalition in support

Campaign: children affected by parental alcohol problems

How much do we drink? 1

Alcohol consumption in Ireland increased by 46% between 1987 (9.8 litres) and 2001 (14.3 litres)

Alcohol consumption in 2011-2012 was around 11.6 litres – the equivalent of every person aged 15+ drinking over 42 bottles of vodka

One in five adults do not drink alcohol

If every drinker aged 18+ drank to their maximum low-risk weekly limits, every week of the year, consumption levels would be approx 9 litres

How much do we drink? 2 Over half of all Irish drinkers report

harmful patterns of drinking; 4 out of 10 women drinkers and 7 out of 10 men who drink. (Alcohol Use in Ireland, SLAN 2007)

ESPAD 2011 survey (average age 15): One in four schoolchildren reported being drunk in the past month, this being the third highest rate of drunkenness of the 35 countries.

Report from Department of Children/ State of the Nation’s Children/ quotes HBSC 2010/ small decline in children first trying drinking but numbers getting drunk consistent with ESPAD

Harms to Health

Every seven hours, someone in Ireland dies from an alcohol-related illness: there are almost twice as many deaths due to alcohol as due to all other drugs combined

Alcoholic liver disease deaths almost trebled (188% increase) between 1995 and 2009. Figures also reveal considerable increases of alcohol liver disease among younger age groups

Among 15-34 years olds, the rate of ALD discharges increased by 275%, while for the 35-49 age group, the rate increased by 227%

These increases suggests we are starting to see the effects of the large increases in alcohol consumption up to 2003

Alcohol-related admissions to acute hospitals doubled between 1995 and 2008

The economic costs - €3.7 bnThe burden of most acute alcoholrelated problems arises frompeople who drink heavily onoccasion

Health care costs = €1.2bn Criminal justice = €1.2bn Road collisions = €526m Lost output due to work

absences = €330m

To the taxpayer = €3,318

To the shopper - cheap alcohol can

be subsidised by increasingprice of other goods

Harm to others - the human costs

1 in 11 children living with parental alcohol problems

One third of domestic abuse cases involve alcohol

Almost half of perpetrators of homicide intoxicated

1 in 11 people said they or family member had been assaulted by person drinking

1 in 11 children – 100,000 children

1 in 11 children living with parental alcohol problems: enough children to fill Croke Park

One in 7 kids in care due to parental substance misuse problems

One in 9 kids witnessed parental conflict due to alcohol during childhood

Alcohol and Parenting

Problems for parents are problems for children

Parental alcohol problems can and do cause serious harm to children

Children often suffer the impacts of parental alcohol and drug problems long before their parent’s health suffers

Each dependent user of alcohol will negatively effect the lives of two other close family members

How many children?

One in eleven Irish children say parental drinking has a negative effect on their lives – that’s 109,684 children (ISPCC, 2010)

A nationally representative survey of 18-40 year olds found that when parents drank weekly or more often: 14% said they often felt afraid or unsafe as a result of

their parents’ drinking 14% said they often witnessed conflict between their

parents either when they were drinking or as a result of their drinking

11% said they often had to take responsibility for a parent or a sibling

Impact did not differ according to socio-economic class(Alcohol Action Ireland Keeping It In the Family Survey, 2009)

Impact on children

Isolation Fear and Anxiety Conflict in the Home Children take on Parental Responsibilities Abuse and Neglect Poverty

Trauma and distress result when“caregivers not only fail to

provide comfort at times of extreme stress, but are themselves the principal source of that stress”

Seeing and hearing children

“They care more about drink than their children.”

“When they are drunk they are in fighting mood.”

“He hits me in my sleep when he drinks.” “It puts you off your work in school as

you’re thinking about it.” “I don’t get to go anywhere or have fun

the next day because I’m minding my brothers.”

“It upsets me sometimes – I’m scared at times as well.”

Solutions? Alcohol Policy in Ireland

11 committees, 15 reports 1990 Working Group on Alcohol Policy 1996 National Alcohol Policy 1996 Oireachtas Committee on Licensing 2000 Commission on Liquor Licensing 2002 Strategic Task Force on Alcohol Oireachtas Committees on Health, Arts,

Sports 2005 Sustaining Progress 2007 Government Advisory Group on

Alcohol 2009 Working Group on Sports

Sponsorship by the Alcohol Industry 2011 National Substance Misuse

Strategy 2011 Oireachtas Committee on Health

Alcohol Policy in Ireland – which way?

Successive Irish governments have consistently pursued policies shown to be ineffective in reducing alcohol-related harms and costs

No national alcohol policy

Pricing Abolition of Groceries Order 2006 Only three increases in excise since

1994 Budget 201o cut excise on alcohol by

20% Budget 2013 restored it/ additional

increase on wine

Availability Increased opening hours Free movement of licences

NSMS Recommendations

Establish a Clinical Directorate to develop the clinical and organisational governance framework to underpin treatment and rehabilitation services

Develop early intervention guidelines for alcohol and substance use across all relevant sectors of the health and social care system. This will include a national screening and brief intervention protocol for early identification of problem alcohol use

NSMS Recommendations

Increase the price of alcohol so that it becomes less affordable

Introduce legislative basis for minimum pricing, along with a ‘social responsibility’ levy on the drinks industry

Commence Section 9 (structural separation of alcohol from other products in supermarkets, etc) of the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2008

Introduce legislation and statutory codes to provide for: a 9.00 p.m. watershed for alcohol advertising on television and radio alcohol advertising in cinemas to only be associated with films classified

as being suitable for over-18s prohibition of all outdoor advertising of alcohol all alcohol advertising in the print media to be subject to stringent codes,

enshrined in legislation and independently monitored

NSMS Recommendations: Treatment and Rehabilitation (12-14)

12. Develop comprehensive outcomes and evidence based approach to addressing needs of children and families experiencing alcohol dependency problems. This would involve a whole family approach, including the provision of supports and services directly to children where necessary

This approach should be guided by and co-ordinated with all existing strategies relating to parenting, children and families and in accordance with edicts from the Office for the Minister for Children and the Child & Family Agency

13. Explore extent of parental problem substance use through the development of a strategy similar to Hidden Harm in Northern Ireland and respond to the needs of children by bringing together all concerned organisations and services

14. Develop family support services

NSMS – where next?

Widespread opposition in Government to advertising and sponsorship restrictions

Minimum pricing has been progressing in Scotland and England – to mixed success

Department of Justice deliberating on Section 9

Department of Health will draft

an action plan and this will be submitted Cabinet for approval