Poll: Does Ireland need a new alcohol policy?

The new Minister of State for Health Alex White has said he will bring proposals on the policy to the Government soon.

THE NEW MINISTER of State for Health Alex White is to bring proposals for an alcohol policy to the Government in the ‘very near future’, he said yesterday.

Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, White said that the time has come “for us to rethink our relationship with alcohol”, and said that “Irish people drink in a more dangerous way than nearly any other country”. According to the Minister, around 1.5 million Irish drinkers drink “in a harmful pattern”.

Changes that White hopes to bring in include introducing minimum prices for alcohol and the phasing out of alcohol sports sponsorship. In 1996, a previous National Alcohol Policy for Ireland was brought in by the then Minister for Health, Michael Noonan TD.

Do you think Ireland needs a new alcohol policy?

Poll Results:

No (1706)

Yes (1095)

I don't know (714)

Yes
No
I don't know

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