Alcohol consumption
Sir, – Dr Ronan Glynn (December 9th) has identified many of the key issues in healthcare delivery in Ireland and the challenges we face, and made several suggestions to improve capacity.
I would suggest that a key area in the upcoming programme for government is a strategy to reduce alcohol harms and their enormous and unsustainable costs to the Irish taxpayer.
Alcohol causes 5 per cent of deaths in Europe, huge numbers of chronic illnesses, and untold social and justice/crime harms. Alcohol costs are estimated at 2 per cent of GDP, which may be €12 billion in Ireland.
Ireland has made substantial progress in recent years in reducing alcohol consumption and harms, but much more needs to be done. The Public Health Alcohol Act (2018) is widely recognised internationally as outstanding and exemplar, and already has been associated with reduced alcohol consumption in Ireland.
Despite the progress made, there is no one individual official or agency responsible for reducing alcohol harms in Ireland.
I propose the establishment of a State agency across government to reduce alcohol harms and costs to Irish society and the taxpayer. Such an agency should hold responsibility for reducing alcohol consumption and associated harms, policy and legislation, ensure consistency across government to reduce harms, gather data and perform analysis, and lead the way in alcohol policy.
It could easily be funded through a levy on alcohol manufacturers, proportionate to their sales in Ireland. After all, their products are the root cause of the problems and deaths.
A programmatic approach to alcohol harm reduction is a certain way to make our healthcare system more sustainable and affordable in the face of the challenges outlined by Dr Glynn. – Yours etc,
PROF FRANK MURRAY, MD FRCPEd FRCPI
Consultant Gastroenterologist/Hepatologist
Chair, Alcohol Action Ireland.
Sir, – I note the recent letter from the CEO of Alcohol Action Ireland (December 9th) in which she claims that “alcohol use is at a very high level”. In formulating policy on anything, the facts must be properly considered.
For the record, the following are the facts relating to alcohol consumption;
- Ireland’s per capita consumption of alcohol has fallen by 30 per cent over the last twenty years;
- Alcohol consumption levels in Ireland are behind the UK, Spain, France and Germany. In fact, we drink less than 14 other EU member states;
- In Ireland, per capita alcohol consumption has fallen from 14.3 litres in 2001 to 9.9 litres in 2023;
- Increased availability of non-alcohol alternatives are accelerating the trend towards moderation. Non-alcohol beer market share has grown by 100 per cent over last 4 years.
This is not for a moment to suggest that issues like binge drinking do not remain an issue. However, policies that seek to penalise the moderate majority of drinkers do not provide a solution. Instead, we should concentrate on misuse where it occurs, through targeted interventions that seek to educate and raise awareness.
These are the kinds of policies that will make the greatest difference. – Yours etc
CORMAC HEALY,
Director, Drinks Ireland
Baggot Street,
Dublin 2.
Regime change in Syria
Sir, – Your editorial (December 9th) about the fall of President Bashar al-Assad rightly says much remains uncertain, but one thing is certain: foreign intervention in Syria delayed the liberation of the country.
When the peaceful uprising began in 2011 and Assad opened fire on peaceful protesters, and unleashed brutal repression symbolised by the “human slaughterhouse” Sednaya prison, the uprising turned into a revolution. Then when he was facing defeat Russia entered Syria in 2015 to save him and began a merciless bombing campaign that reduced much of the country to rubble. Meanwhile Iran made-up 80 per cent of Assad’s ground forces including Hizbullah and Shiite militias from Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan as well as Iran itself in addition to its IRGC and Quds Force.
Was the West any better? President Barack Obama failed to follow through on his now infamous red line in not stopping chemical attacks by Assad. Then when Isis emerged, also helped by Assad as cover for his mass atrocities against the civilian population, the first group in Syria to fight that threat was the opposition Free Syrian Army. Then the US and allies started bombing Isis in Syria leaving Assad untouched, knowing Assad had encouraged that savage jihadist group to develop, even witnessing him avoiding bombing Isis as it was also attacking the Syrian opposition.
We failed Syrians when they bravely took to the streets in 2011. We cannot do that again when there is so much at stake. HTS is not representative of all Syrians, but the shape of a free Syria must be determined by Syrians alone. Bringing Assad to justice and an accountability process will be a key part of that.
Many among the seven million Syrians made refugees by Assad want to go home. The difference we can make this time is to help them create a transition to free elections, and ensure they have the resources to make a success of that attempt to rebuild their country, based on the rule of law and respect for human rights. – Yours etc,
RONAN L TYNAN,
Director, Bringing Assad To Justice,
East Wall,
Dublin 3.
Dublin’s ugliest building
Sir, – Fintan O’Toole asserts that Hawkins House was “the ugliest building in Ireland.” (December 7th). Whether it was the ugliest building in Ireland could be questioned but even Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, acknowledges of Hawkins House that “the building was considered to be one of the ugliest in Dublin, being voted the worst building in Dublin in 1998.”
This raises an obvious question. Now that Hawkins House is no more, what is the ugliest building in Dublin today? As an occasional visitor to the fair city, I would vote for Liberty Hall, a decaying eyesore that has existed in jarring disharmony with its surroundings for 60 years. A poll of your readers on the reigning “ugliest building in Dublin” would be an entertaining diversion in a dark December. – Yours etc,
PATRICK PURCELL,
Maryland, USA.
Fake greenery
Sir, – I wholeheartedly endorse Peter O’Sullivan and Rosita Boland’s views on fake greenery. Even more concerning is the rise in the use of artificial grass. It not only generates colossal CO2 in its manufacture, but it heats up in summer whereas real grass has a cooling effect. Artificial grass provides no ecological habitat, food sources or oxygen generation unlike living grass and also destroys the life in the earth beneath it. Natural grass also purifies rainwater thus improving groundwater quality.
Artificial grass has a lifespan thus generating more CO2 for its replacement whereas natural grass can survive even the worst droughts. – Yours etc.
RHONA KELLY,
Dún Laoghaire.
Reopening of Notre Dame
Sir, – Last Sunday I watched with wonder and no little pride, the subconscious prompting of my Catholic DNA no doubt, the first mass at Notre-Dame Cathedral since its disastrous fire in 2019.
The lustre of its limestone walls, cleaned of centuries of grime and the restored stained-glass windows projecting dazzling patterns of colour across the nave, illustrated the realisation of remarkable multifaceted endeavour.
At the same time this sacred place scripted an utterly despairing story. Despite its name “Our Lady” to whom it is dedicated, and the date, December 8th, the feast day of her immaculate conception, there were no women participants with any degree of ceremonial status. Other than some choristers and a couple of women who brought the gifts to the altar, women were inconsequential.
Restoration certainly, renewal never. – Yours etc,
MICHAEL GANNON,
Saint Thomas Square.
Kilkenny.
Sir, – I have been much heartened by your newspaper’s coverage of the reopening of the cathedral of Notre-Dame: Rory O’Sullivan’s fine piece “Everyone should read the Hunchback of Notre-Dame”; and the selection of James Harpur’s poem “Gargoyle describes the fire of Notre-Dame” as “poem of the week” (Saturday/Sunday December 7th-8th) are to be commended. They are a timely reminder to all nations, including our own, of the importance of preserving such ecclesiastical buildings, as they are essential mystical spaces that give succour to both those who believe the Christian message and those who do not.
On Saturday November 30th, with the support of the French Embassy, we marked the occasion in Trinity College with a conference that considered Notre-Dame’s mystical and cultural significance over the centuries; this was followed at the United Arts Club by a launch of James Harpur’s collection, The Gospel of Gargoyle, with extracts beautifully performed by the Stage and Screen Society. The international importance of Notre-Dame shone through in the attendance at our event.
In these difficult and challenging times, the renovation of Notre-Dame stands as a reassuring monument to the resilience of the human spirit. – Yours etc,
Prof SARAH ALYN STACEY,
Head of the Department of French,
Trinity College,
Dublin 2.
Milk and the environment
Sir, - The privately run consortium known as the National Dairy Council is now taking out adverts in The Irish Times (Sponsored: Milk is delicious and good for you – and that’s a fact, irishtimes.com, November 28th).
The paid advertisement emphasises the calcium and the full “matrix” of nutrients in dairy. Milk does indeed contain multiple nutrients. It is after all baby food for calves, and is designed to turn them into a 450kg heifer in a few months so it would be surprising if it did not. That said, milk is not a necessary part of our diet, and all these nutrients can easily be made up from other dietary sources. As 65 per cent of the world’s population are lactose intolerant, many people do just that.
But what is truly farcical about this sponsored advertising is the claim that dairy is now “more sustainable through a range of means, including putting more clover into the ground to reduce the need for chemical fertiliser”. No amount of clover can counteract the greenhouse gas emissions from this industry, a staggering 38.5 per cent, making it our biggest emitter.
Nor can it counteract its large environmental toll in terms of land and water usage. Ireland is not naturally grassland and grass has been cultivated at the expense of our natural habitat. We now have less than 2 per cent of native forest remaining, making us the most ecologically bereft country in Europe with obvious consequences for biodiversity and habitat loss. – Yours etc,
JOAN BURGESS,
25 Annmount,
Cork.
Feeder schools
Sir, – We have the tiresome annual, promotional Feeder Schools supplement delivered with our newspapers (December 10th). The only consistent annual outcome is the narrow definitions of success where “Highest progression Rates – top schools” and “Improved schools” are based on the outdated and elitist assumption that a “top” school is one that regurgitates its output into third-level colleges and universities. We even have a separate chart for slow learners of the “top non-fee-paying schools” in case we are in any doubt where the primary focus lies.
A perusal of the pages of computer-code-like details failed to illicit any data for the progression figures from the “school-of-life” graduates who have “progressed” and “improved” and may even be alternatively qualified, happy and constructively adding to the general health of society. – Yours etc,
TOMÁS FINN,
Ballinasloe,
Co Galway.
Fintan O’Toole
Sir, – What a pleasure it was to read Fintan O’Toole’s candid, self-effacing and humorous account of his start in journalism (‘You had to learn to live with the fact that some people despised you’, December 7th). While I often diverge from his political analysis I never fail to admire his facility for the written word. – Yours etc,
MATTHEW GLOVER,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.