Ireland tackles boozing among youth

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK

Associated Press Writer

THE IRISH government welcomed a detailed plan Wednesday to curb heavy boozing among Ireland's young, a problem that has surged in the past decade of rising prosperity.

In recent years Ireland has become the highest per-capita consumer of alcohol in the 15-nation European Union. The surge coincided with the country's so-called Celtic Tiger economy, which brought heavy growth and big rises in employment -- but also boosted people's stress levels, along with their personal income.

The 2002 World Drink Trends survey found that the average Irish adult drank the equivalent of 12.3 litres of pure alcohol a year, and spent 1,270 euros (US$1,350) on beer, wine and liquor.

The Commission on Liquor Licensing, formed by the government to recommend reforms to Ireland's highly lucrative pubs and clubs, on Wednesday offered more than 100 ideas to Justice Minister Michael McDowell in its final report.

It called for pubs to lose their licence if they're caught serving alcohol to people under 18, to bar teenagers from pubs after 7p.m., and to promote the development of pubs with a small scale and a continental cafe feel -- places where a customer would be as likely to go for coffee as a pint of beer.

"A coffee drinker should be able to sit next to someone having a beer, and it should not have to turn into a whole afternoon's drinking," McDowell said.

The justice minister also welcomed the idea of issuing alcohol licences preferentially for smaller pubs, rather than the large-scale pubs that can pack hundreds of customers into standing-room-only rooms.

Such so-called "superpubs" ­ a few of which have offered headline-grabbing "all you can drink" specials for an entrance fee ­ have been criticised as leading contributors to Ireland's growing problem with alcohol abuse.

Liquor Licensing Commission chairman Gordon Holmes said he hoped the government would outlaw pub promotions that allow customers to drink as much as they can for a flat fee.

"It's a recipe for disaster and needs to be stopped," he said.

But student leaders and opposition lawmakers criticised the idea of promoting smaller-scaled pubs.

John Deasy, a lawmaker from the opposition Fine Gael party, said McDowell ought to "get real" and said efforts to promote cafe-style pubs was "doomed to fail, given Ireland's drinking culture". He said all it would do is create even more places for people to drink.

And the National Youth Council of Ireland said the commission and McDowell were being "completely unrealistic".

"In the centres of large towns there are already superpubs," said council spokesman Colm O Mongain. "Adding these smaller cafe bars won't draw people away from them. It will just add to the number of places where alcohol is available."

Ireland, a predominantly Roman Catholic nation of 3.8 million, already has about 10,000 pubs.