I welcome the Minister of State. The 1999 ESPAD report, Alcohol and Other Drug Use Among Students in 30 European Countries, cost a lot of money to produce but it is difficult to obtain a copy.
It may sound alarmist but what comes through from the report is that little has changed with regard to the drinking habits of young people in Ireland. We have remained in the top group since 1995 when the first comprehensive study was carried out. However, as a woman, one of the most alarming aspects of the report is the finding that the increase in drinking is predominantly among girls, particularly young girls. This is a shocking finding which we must examine. We are not discussing cigarette smoking in this debate but it is interesting that the same findings were reported in the survey on cigarette smoking.
I wish to be positive about the matter but only one small ray of light came from the report, namely, that the use of drugs by students in Ireland has reduced slightly. This may be due to the tremendous efforts of Governments, schools, parents, the drugs squad and others which promote greater awareness. However, the report highlights that it is easier than ever to obtain all kinds of drugs throughout the country.
We cannot contradict the findings of this report as it was a collaborative scientific study. One positive aspect was the forthcoming response of students in the 15 to 16 year old age bracket. The project set out to conduct schools based surveys as that was the way to obtain the relevant cohort of people in a supportive environment and free of peer and parent pressure. The students answered questions honestly and Irish students were very forthcoming in their responses to the research. We must view as positive the manner in which young people respond to questions and the fact that they are not fearful of stating the number of times they have been drunk. More often than not, young people use spirits and beer and not wine. This is probably due to the fact that wine is not one of the more popular drinks in Ireland among young people.
It is important to get back to the goal, however. Researchers have stated that the knowledge gained will be important in future when changes in one part of Europe may serve as a forecast for other countries where such changes have not yet appeared, and such trends may also function as incitements for prevention initiatives. There were significant drops in some countries, but not here. We are still up there with Denmark and the United Kingdom in most categories of high alcohol consumption. When we receive reports such as this one it is incumbent upon us to take corrective action by looking at the methodologies employed by countries that showed a reduction in the 1999 survey. They must be doing something positive about reducing drinking, and we cannot resolve the drinking issue alone.
It is interesting to note that the countries where young people consume most alcohol happen to be places we normally associate with having an easy attitude to drink, including the Scandinavian countries, and particularly Denmark which is still up there at the top, with ourselves and the United Kingdom. The trend appears to be increasing towards eastern Europe, as the economic prosperity of those countries, although it is less than ours, has resulted in increased drinking among young people.
In discussing the detail of the research it is no harm to go through some salient points concerning the graphs that are well illustrated throughout this report. As regards changes in alcohol consumption, Ireland is included in the category "alcohol used 40 times or more in a lifetime", recording an increase between 1995 and 1999. Eastern European countries tend to come on board, so the Czech Republic is now included for the first time in the top group along with Finland, Ireland and the United Kingdom where increases have occurred. Interestingly, both Cyprus and Italy have recorded decreases in drinking, so perhaps we should examine what happened in those places between 1995 and 1999.
I am frightened by the statistics relating to an increase in drinking by girls. In the category "Alcohol used 20 times or more during the last 12 months" we are still up in the high figures. There has been no change in the category "Alcohol used ten times or more during the last 30 days", but we are still among the high consumption figures. The overall increase is, however, more pronounced among girls.
Denmark, Ireland, Malta and the United Kingdom continue to be among the countries with the highest prevalence of alcohol use per 30-day period. In 1999, as in 1995, Ireland, Denmark and Cyprus held the top position in the category "Beer consumption: three times or more during the last 30 days". Cyprus and Ireland used to be ranked second and third, but now the Czech Republic is in there, with the United Kingdom.
I will not refer to wine consumption because it does not impact much on us. The statistics concerning the consumption of spirits are frightening. Increases recurred in Cyprus, Denmark, Ireland, Malta, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United Kingdom in the category "Spirits consumption: three times or more during the last 30 days". Whereas consumption of spirits was evenly spread among boys and girls in six of those countries, the opposite was true both here and in the United Kingdom, where the increase was larger among girls. Girls were in the majority both in the 1995 and 1999 surveys.
In 1995 and 1999, Denmark and Ireland recorded the highest figures in the category "Consumption of 101 centilitres of beer, or more". Sweden used to be the top country in this category. In the past, Sweden was regarded very much as a country where a high percentage of the population drank, but it is now surpassed by Ireland. According to this survey, the highest increase in the consumption of spirits was observed in Ireland.
This frightening report cannot be pushed aside. We are a tiny country participating among 30 other states, yet we are still up there, recording the highest increase in the category "Eleven centilitres of spirits on the last drinking occasion". Girls are in the majority in this category also. Denmark, Norway and Ireland recorded the highest increases in the category "drunkenness, 20 times or more in a lifetime". It is very depressing. In every single category, except for wine drinking, Ireland is among the top countries for consumption.
I repeat that there has been no improvement between 1995 and 1999, in the hope that parents, teachers, politicians and the public will be aware of this report. It is not just a newspaper headline that will come and go.
Denmark and Ireland also recorded the largest increases in the category "Drunkenness, three times or more during the last 30 days". It is not sufficient to provide a statistic and say that both Denmark and Ireland are up there among the top consumers. This pattern is consistent for all types of alcohol, apart from wine, and no improvement has been recorded between 1995 and 1999.
I was horrified by the statistics on binge drinking, which is classified as "five drinks in a row on at least three occasions during the last 30 days". Ireland is again among the top countries, including Denmark and the United Kingdom. In 1995 and 1999, the top group comprised Denmark, Ireland, Poland and the United Kingdom.
For the purposes of the survey, respondents were asked at what age they began drinking and what their drinking patterns were like at the age of 13. Both Norway and Ireland recorded increases in the category "Drunk at the age of 13, or younger", whereas decreases occurred in Cyprus and Italy. In this category in most countries boys were in the majority, but the proportion of boys and girls was equal in Ireland. In 1999, three countries showed particularly high figures for this category – sadly, they were Denmark, the United Kingdom and Finland. Ireland did not hit the top three but it was not very far from them.
Even though we are discussing drinking, it is important to refer briefly to the prevalence for using illicit drugs. I began by stating that there was a slight decrease in drug taking by Irish youths, but we are up there among the highest consumers. The report found a slight decrease in the consumption of all drugs, cannabis in particular, but that decrease was only found among boys, so girls are still at risk. Ireland recorded a slight decrease in the category "life-time use of any illicit drug other than cannabis". That is possibly because of interventions across the community. Ireland also figures in the statistics for the use of inhalants.
The statistics relating to the availability of drugs are frightening also. Ireland is among the top five countries in the category "proportion of students who perceive the availability of drugs to be very easy or fairly easy". There is no question but that drugs can be found easily by young people. As regards LSD and any other drugs named in the report, we have been there, done that, and had access to them. To summarise the report, girls drink more often and in larger quantities than boys in Ireland and the United Kingdom.
The Minister mentioned sponsorship, promotion, responsible serving of alcohol, and schools-based information programmes, but they are not enough. I worked as a teacher from 1994 to 1997, so it is not long ago that I was teaching 15 and 16 year olds. They had no problem in telling me they had easy access to alcohol. According to the report, while other nationalities were drinking in parks, at home or in other people's houses, Irish boys and girls were drinking in pubs. They said that was the only area where they had access to alcohol, whereas in other countries such access was always in somebody's home or at parties. The big question is how, at that age and even younger, they are able to get their hands on alcohol.
There is also an increased level of drinking among students who have easy access to off-licence premises. They may be third level students, but if we were to carry out our own survey I am sure we would discover that many of them are second level students. There is such a demand for off-licence drink that students buy in quantities. They buy in crates and move to their rented accommodation, apartments or elsewhere to parties. We may have to deal with the issue of monitoring off-licence premises in relation to access by young people, who can obviously consume both within pubs and outside them.
It is a sad indictment that, despite the emphasis on a holistic approach to health, social and personal development and moderation, we are still not getting the message across. Can we liaise with other countries which have positive interventions and similar lifestyles, where there has been a decrease? Perhaps the situation in Italy or Sweden could be studied. There is no shortage of information. We should avail of all expertise which may be available at EU level, such as the appropriate committee of the European Parliament.
Unless we take positive steps now, we may be even more horrified when the next report comes out in four years' time. The collaborators in this report said they would prefer to have reports more frequently than at four yearly intervals but the limiting factor is funding. In the interest of better use of funding, we should press for two-yearly reports rather than allowing a problem of heavy drinking by young people to go undetected for as long as four years.