Launch of Cork & Kerry Alcohol Strategy 2016 – 2018
The Cork & Kerry Alcohol Strategy 2016 – 2018 was launched on June 14th 2016 at Cork County Hall. This is the first strategy of its kind in the Cork and Kerry region. The vision of the strategy is to motivate communities in Cork and Kerry to stop the damage caused by alcohol.
The main objectives set out in the strategy include the following:
- Minimum Pricing: There is a strong body of evidence that supports the assertion that minimum unit pricing as outlined in The Public Health(Alcohol) Bill is an effective determinant to the purchasing of alcohol.
- Availability: Reducing easy access reduces the opportunities for the consumption of alcohol.
- Advertising / Marketing: Advertising works. That is why the drinks industry spends so much money on it. Restricting advertising reduces people’s (particularly young people’s) susceptibility to its power.
Speaking at the event Martin Davoren of UCC’s Department of Epidemiology and Public Health said “It is used to mark all major life events, whether you like it or not”. He estimated that excessive alcohol consumption costs every taxpayer €3,318 per year, funding extra Garda resources, health and social services. Mr Davoren also said that last year two-thirds of students at UCC drank to hazardous levels. Dr Michael Byrne, head of REACT (Responding to Excessive Alcohol Consumption in Third Level) at UCC said that the Irish are ‘cursed by our genes, genealogy and geniality’ when it comes to alcohol misuse. We are taught to drink at our parents knees, and we are cursed by our geniality. We may be fun for the first few drinks, but three or four or five drinks in the fun wears off.”
The Strategy can be found here Cork & Kerry Alcohol Strategy 2016 – 2018