Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 October 2024
618. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health if he is aware of the World Health Organisation’s recent report (details supplied); if he accepts the WHO findings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41213/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe latest HRB report on Alcohol: availability, affordability, related harm, and policy in Ireland | HRB | Health Research Board (www.hrb.ie/publication/alcohol-availability-affordability-related-harm-and-policy-in-ireland/ assesses the current situation in Ireland regarding alcohol use and harm, as well as policy responses; analyses trends over time; and contributes towards assessing the impact of the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018.
Alcohol-related harm can be caused not only by the volume of alcohol consumed, but also by patterns of drinking, and can include harms to health, violence, and social harms. An effective estimate of alcohol-related harm is the number of hospitalisations due to alcohol use. The number of alcohol-related hospitalisations increased by 16.4% between 2001 and 2021, from 16,219 to 18,877 but when considering the population growth Ireland has seen in this period, it represents a 17.1% decrease per 100,000 of the population. Adjusting for population growth, rates of alcohol-related liver disease per 100,000 of the population have increased by 79.9% in the 20- year period from 2001 to 2021.
Survey data indicate that more than one-quarter (27.6%) of drinkers aged 15–24 years reported experiencing harm due to their own alcohol use in the 2019–20 NDAS. Hazardous or harmful drinkers were more likely to report experiencing harm from their own drinking. Accidentally hurting oneself (10.2%) and harms to health (8.0%) were the most common harms reported from their own drinking. One in every 10 respondents reported experiencing harm to family (10.8%) and 6.0% reported being a passenger with a drunk driver as the harms experienced from others’ drinking.
The WHO report in question is a technical manual alcohol on tax policy and administration, which falls within the remit of the Department of Finance. As a complement to tax policies, the manual references minimum pricing, a policy used to set a floor price below which alcoholic beverages cannot be sold. Ireland is highlighted as a country that has introduced minimum pricing.
The Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 set a minimum unit price of 10c per gram of alcohol. Minimum unit pricing targets strong cheap alcohol because the minimum price is determined by the amount of alcohol in a product. Addressing the availability of cheap strong alcohol products will reduce the disease and death caused by the harmful use of alcohol and will ensure that cheap strong alcohol is not available to children and young people at pocket money prices.
I am aware of the harms of alcohol and the cost to the health services of dealing with these harms, and am committed to reducing alcohol consumption through public health measures.
