Ireland: Almost one-third of Irish people say they would like to drink alcohol less often
By Steven Heaney
September 16, 2021
Almost one in three Irish people say they would like to drink alcohol less often.
That is just one of the findings of a survey carried out by drinkaware.ie, which said demand for its services reached record highs during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the charity, 552,194 people visited its website last year – a 5% increase on 2019’s total.
117,000 of these page visits related to Covid-19-specific digital content. The charity’s Facebook received nearly 400% more page visits in 2020 than in 2019.
Demand for the free resources provided by Drinkaware.ie also rose, with 11,134 people placing an order for them in 2020 – a 156% increase on the number supplied in 2019.
From January to December of last year, Drinkaware said it provided more than 96,000 information booklets, posters, calculator wheels, and measurement cups to Irish people who placed orders online.
‘Mindful drinking’
Much of Drinkaware’s content throughout the pandemic has focused on ‘mindful drinking’ and responsible alcohol consumption.
Earlier this summer, it released its Annual Barometer for 2021, which the group said highlighted some “positive trends”.
30% of respondents to the survey said they would like to drink less often, an increase of 6% on the proportion who stated the same the previous year. A further 37% said they had already made ‘small positive changes’ to their normal drinking habits.
However, the proportion of respondents who reported drinking on a weekly basis rose to 55%. In 2018, this figure was 44%.
‘Binge’ drinking
The World Health Organisation (WHO), defines ‘binge’ drinking as consuming six or more standard drinks in one session, the equivalent of three or more pints of beer or six or more pub measures of spirits.
The Drinkaware Barometer also found that more than a fifth of those surveyed (22%) said they ‘binged’ when they drank, with levels of binge drinking almost doubling among those aged 18 to 24 – climbing from 16% in 2020 to 31% in 2021.
While the charity cautioned that “more work and greater collaboration and co-operation is needed” it did note that that identification of “a more mindful drinking trend reflects the recent CSO figures showing that overall consumption in Ireland is moving in the right direction.”
Launching her charity’s 2020 Annual Report, Drinkaware CEO Sheena Horgan said the research showed “evidence of continued public interest in getting the facts around alcohol and understanding the harms associated with drinking, which is extremely positive.”
“With over half a million visits to the website, it is evidence that Drinkaware’s approach to supporting people to make better decisions regarding their alcohol consumption is working,” she said.
Ms Horgan noted however that the report also showed that there was a “consistent lack of knowledge amongst the general public of the HSE’s low-risk weekly guidelines, which is concerning.”
“We strongly believe that to challenge this, and indeed to challenge the misuse of alcohol, more collaboration is needed from both civil society but also government bodies, educators, industry, and the media in order to meet this shared goal,” she added.