Ireland: Teach our youth how to drink

last updated 8 January 2015

Billy Keane

Irish Independent

The decline of the family pub has led to a rise in alcoholism, said Billy Keane. Does that sound counterintuitive? It isn’t. I’m a pub owner, and like my fellow publicans, I take pride in looking out for my customers. We take stock of all our drinkers, ask them about themselves, and gently admonish those who’ve had enough. Many men and women “have been saved from alcoholism and self-harm by a long talk, late at night,” with the barkeep. Drinking in a pub is a social event, and it comes with “social constraints.” You don’t want to “let yourself down by falling down drunk in front of the neighbors.” But as pubs close, more and more people are now buying their booze at stores to take home, where they drink way too much. The Royal College of Physicians has just come out with a report indicating that liver disease has more than tripled among 15- to 34-year-olds, along with sharp rises of other health problems. It urges a ban on liquor brands sponsoring sports events, but another solution would be to slap a tax on alcohol sold in stores, to encourage people to go round to the pub for a beer and a laugh rather than slugging down a bottle of vodka at home. “Maybe we shouldn’t tell our kids not to drink, but rather how to drink and where to drink.”