Whilst attitudes are changing – and a recent Lancet survey revealed some frightening facts about alcohol consumption by putting it on a par with smoking -Ireland still has some way to go before embracing an alcohol-free lifestyle. Dr. Ciara Kelly, broadcaster and resident doctor on Irelands flagship health show, Operation Transformation, remains cautious about how quickly change might come about.
“The first time I said anything publicly that was anti-drink, the backlash I got was really enormous. It was 3 or 4 years ago, I criticised one of the leaders on Operation Transformation for drinking.
It was not a popular thing, I got monstrous amounts of abuse on social media. Now, people don’t even notice any more I’ve said it so many times. I wrote an unapologetic article for the Sunday Independent and went on the Brendan O’ Connor show to explain my position.
You can’t criticise alcohol consumption in this country without a pushback. It is about education but it’s also about a shift in attitude.
Look at how long that Alcohol bill is winding its way through the Dáil. It has been an extraordinary bill, the drinks lobby is very powerful and there is a lot of overlap with the drinks industry. I’ve spoken to a lot of the doctors and the guys that went into the Dáil, they were heckled, there were TD’s shouting at them, some of these guys are health experts flown in and they were certainly not expecting that politicians were going to speak to them in the manner they were spoken to, it was quite the eye-opener.
Back then I think that was a point where we at least started to talk about it, even though I don’t think it has changed hugely, I think it has become more acceptable that doctors or someone will or can criticise alcohol.
People are getting used to hearing that alcohol is not all great craic. That there is harm, and I think that is being acknowledged. There is also a demographic shift, and there is a bunch of younger people who are not drinking, certainly not to the same level that would have happened 20 years ago. They are much more health conscious in a different way.
Big Tobacco and big alcohol work in the exact same way to challenge any threat to their business model. I believe we are more wedded to Alcohol in this country than we ever were to tobacco. I’ve been covering the Alcohol bill repeatedly for the past 6 to 8 months… and I keep seeing it being shipped away. I would be somewhat surprised to see it passed in its original form without it being watered down.
Alcohol is a class A carcinogen, it is in the same category as tobacco and asbestos. That is where it is. You can do whatever you want but I don’t think you should be doing it without being fully informed about what you are doing. If you then choose to do it that’s up to you. I want people to make informed decisions.”
‘More people die from Alcohol than suicide and road deaths combined’
“A huge number of people drink in a harmful and hazardous way in this country. Young people don’t drink any more than middle aged people, everyone drinks across the board too much in this country. There is a huge amount of people who drink heavily to the detriment of their mental wellbeing, their relationships and their life but that is minimized in a massive way.
We lose 3 people a day from Alcohol , more people die from Alcohol than suicide and road deaths combined but we hear an awful lot more about suicide and road deaths than we do about alcohol and I think there is a reason for that.
I agree that both tobacco and alcohol are both harmful and addictive substances, I believe culturally we are extremely wedded to alcohol in this country. Irish society is drenched in Alcohol. It is our identity, the drunken Irish, this is how we are viewed. It is a national blind spot, and drinking is almost a national pastime.
Women’s alcohol consumption is a really big issue. People are now drinking what might start as a glass of wine and turns into a bottle of wine and that is not that unusual and people don’t see it as an issue. Women are effected worse than men from alcohol because of our biology. We cannot metabolise alcohol like men so it has a more detrimental effect.
I really do think that there is a huge amount of people in this country that are suffering with depression and anxiety and many of them are on anti-depressants and they drink. If you took away the alcohol that it is entirely possible that they would not have the depression or the anxiety. Really all of their symptoms and all the medication they are taking could be a result of their alcohol consumption. People self-medicate with alcohol all the time.”
‘If you took away the alcohol it is entirely possible that they would not have the depression or the anxiety.’
“I do drink, but I drink less and less. I am aware now in a way that I never was when I was younger. I am conflicted about alcohol in general. It’s really hard for a non-drinker in Ireland. We are a really weird country in that we say the guy who doesn’t drink is the one with the problem and not the guy propping up the bar. I think people don’t want to be around non-drinkers because it holds up a mirror to their own drinking and that may not be something they are comfortable with.
Parents also drink heavily and they often view teenage drinking as a rite of passage. Parents are conflicted even when we talk about stopping teenagers drinking. Even enforcing the idea of not drinking until they are 18. It is often parents who are giving the teenagers alcohol. We have normalised the dysfunction around alcohol.
The term alcoholic is really misleading, I don’t think the term ‘alcoholic’ is a helpful term. I think problem drinking is a more helpful term. The bar is set so low in that unless you’re on a park bench or in the gutter it seems to be ok when clearly it’s not and alcohol is having a detrimental effect on your life in many ways and you can also be very successful or seen to be successful in other ways.
It think it’s much simpler to say have you ever felt bad about your drinking , has it ever brought you to a place where you felt bad about yourself. This is easier for people to understand. To me its cock-eyed and backwards that we label the non-drinker as the one with the problem and the guy drinking ten pints every weekend is ok.
We don’t like hearing that heavy drinking and suicide are closely linked and we don’t like hearing that between 40% and 50% of everyone who takes their own life has consumed alcohol. That alcohol plays a role in probably half, maybe more of all suicides in this country. We don’t like hearing that. We don’t’ like hearing anything bad about alcohol. We want to stop suicide but we don’t want to let go of our Alcohol, they are related issues.”
‘There should be no promotion of it whatsoever’
“Regarding the recent high profile Belfast Trial of the Ulster Rugbly players, if you listen to how much alcohol was consumed on that night, whatever you want to think about that night or not there was a huge amount of alcohol consumed by the people on the night in question, a huge amount.
We are raising our children into a drink culture, we are raising our children into a culture that is going to put them at risk of harm. To me, what should happen with alcohol is there should be no promotion of it whatsoever. I don’t’ think you should be able to promote it. It can exist and we can go out and purchase it but there should be no advertising no sponsorship of sports teams.
There are so many commercial aspects to sports nowadays, I don’t’ see why alcohol has to be part of it. I think there should be no endorsement or promotion or sponsorship or anything like that whatsoever, don’t let them advertise it market it or promote it any way. Regulate it the same as smoking. I also think we wouldn’t do any harm if we actually said you cannot drink until the age of 18 and meant it because that is not how it is here at all.
We still have very hazardous drinking patterns with men and women in their 40’s and 50’s in this country. When women hit their mid-40’s their drinking consumption goes up, the kids are reared and they’ve more time and it’s easy to reach for a glass of wine.
I’ve never thought of myself as someone others would see as an example and never thought of not drinking as an example to others. I don’t object to people drinking alcohol, and I don’t necessarily think it’s a problem for someone to have a couple of drinks, however I recognise that that is not how a lot of people drink and it is harmful for a lot of people.”
Whilst Dr Ciara is very clear on her stance in regards to alcohol consumption, a lot of us remain confused and are really not sure if zero tolerance is the way to go, or if having a few drinks is still ok. Is there really such a thing as one drink? If compared to smoking it would appear that zero is the only healthy level of consumption. And whilst this may seem radical in regards to alcohol, maybe in 5 or 10 years’ time it could be the norm. The drinks industry itself has recognized the shift in consumption with big brands now embracing the zero-alcohol concept, as it is ironically being heralded as the new growth market in alcoholic drinks.
We’ve somehow been convinced that consuming a depressant on a regular basis is not bad for us. Not bad for our mental health. With all this talk about mental health, why exactly are we consuming a depressant on a regular basis – for most of us at least twice a week since we were in our teens. Could the antidote be the poison after all? How would we feel if we removed it?
Are we taking a depressant from one bottle and an anti-depressant from another?
Something is rotten in Denmark, probably.
Many enjoy alcohol as a sort of liquid extroversion, whilst others think it’s the only way to really relax. As we learn more about our own mental health it might just be that alcohol doesn’t do exactly what it says on the tin and in fact, quite the opposite.
Our northern neighbors in Iceland have achieved a 90% decrease in youth alcohol consumption by completely banning advertising and introducing measures to curb anti- social behavior whilst encouraging and providing funding for other activities for its youth.
With 50% of those brought up in a house with a parent who has a drink problem likely to develop the same problem, that is quite the cycle of dependence to break, and many in Ireland will unfortunately be able to identify with it, even if it skips a generation.
Alcohol consumption is not a moral issue, just a functional one. Is it working? Whilst it may have served a purpose at one stage in our evolution perhaps we are moving to an era where we finally call time please. There is a growing number of people now choosing to be non-drinkers and seemingly all the happier and healthier for it.
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