Consuming the Craic, Destroying the Body

Abstract

In February of 2012, Tony Holohan, chief medical officer at the Department of Health, made a comment on RTE’s Six One News that might not be newsworthy nationally or internationally: “Irish consume too much alcohol” (RTE News February 2, 2012). He described “the nature of the problem” and the effects that alcohol consumption have on Irish society. He explained further how, at a cost to the Irish state of €1.2 billion every year, “90 people per month suffer avoidable deaths as a consequence of consumption of alcohol.” He added, “alcohol is implicated in half of all suicides” and “approximately 2,000 hospital beds each night are occupied by people whose illness is related directly or indirectly to alcohol misuse.” Holohan’s concluding message was that we need to face up to the problems caused by alcohol, yet he also recognized the value alcohol has in Irish society: “It is not to say that alcohol is a universal harm or is universally negative. But the way in which we use alcohol in Irish society is the problem which we are seeking to tackle.” Early in my research I once asked a few of the lads: If you add up all the money you have spent on alcohol, from when you had your first drink until today, and you were offered that full amount for the promise that you will never drin … I was immediately interrupted “No!” I meant you can never have another drink again …? Again, I received a unanimous “No!”