Alcohol abuse is a contributory factor in a large number of suicides.

We are not an anti-drink group but we need to alert the public particularly the young of the possible dangerous result of binge drinking. 

We have created a drink culture in this country, which makes it acceptable and trendy for young people to drink to excess. The young people of today have inherited this culture the blame is not with them. 

We would agree with Senator Jim Glennon’s criticism of the drinks industry for encouraging young people to drink through advertising and the type of drinks thy produce and push on young people. We are aware that nightclubs will use every method possible to push drink on young people even when it is obvious that they already have enough. 

The government should look at the amount and type of licenses that are issued, more and more and bigger Nightclubs are springing up with a capacity to admit over 1000 people.
They should also initiate an advertising campaign to discourage binge drinking and highlight the dangers of excessive drinking as is done in other countries (may be the drinks industry should sponsor this).
We would also agree with his criticism of our three main sporting organisations (I.R.F.U. / F.A.I. / G.A.A.) for promoting drink and encouraging young people to drink i.e. Guinness Hurling Championship, Heineken Cup and Carlsberg F.A.I. Cup. We resent the connection between drink and sport.
WE need to create alternatives to the pub for our youth by providing proper amenities and facilities in each community. We still allow developers to build massive housing estates with little or no amenities. Their planning application is accepted if they leave a bit of green space and build a few shops and in some cases planning permission is later given to build more houses on designated green space.

 As a result we have groups of young teenagers all over the country, standing on street corners in housing estates with nothing to do an no where to go. The only response from the authorities is for a squad car to pull up and have Gardaí ask them to move on. May be to another street corner or to a near bye field where they start there drinking, purchasing cans of bear at their “local off license”. 

We need to support existing sporting bodies who are dealing with young people so that they can provide proper facility, which will result in keeping these young people in the sport. By doing this we can help parents to encourage their children to stay away from pubs until they are old enough to understand the dangers of excessive drinking. 

There are many parents finding it difficult to deal with the expectations of their teenage sons and daughters.

Peer pressure demands that young people have to drink and go to pubs and discos before they are mature enough to be able to handle the inherent dangers in that culture.
They are lead into a culture of fast and heavy drinking (and maybe drug experimentation) by looking up to older teenagers and young adults who them selves started out in the same way. 

A significant number of young people take their own life after a night of heavy drinking when all inhibitions are gone.
It is this cycle between younger and older teenagers, which must be broken.

We will not achieve this by been negative and telling our young people what they can and cannot do. We will only succeed by creating alternatives and trusting them to make the right choices.