IRISH STEW Richard J B Willis
Minister for Health and Children, Michaél Martin, has caused a stew in the Irish Republic by signing into law The Tobacco Smoking (Prohibition) Regulations 2003. It calls for the complete ban, from mid January, on smoking in all work-places, including clubs, pubs and restaurants.
The leisure trade is urging that the Republic follow the rest of the world by having smoking restrictions and the provision of designated smoking areas rather than an outright ban. That, said the Minister, defeats the aim of the legislation. Employees would still have to work in such areas and thereby risk their health.
Arguments from the trade that sales will suffer if the new regulations are implemented cut no ice with the Minister. It has been claimed by anti-ban campaigners that there was a loss of income when similar measures were introduced in New York. Whilst this was true initially trade has picked up once more as people dine in their favourite eateries and as these establishments have found innovative ways of attracting and keeping customers.
A stew of another kind is also brewing in the Republic - teenage binge drinking - a problem faced in the UK too. The UK Office of National Statistics revealed that young teenagers are drinking twice as much as their counterparts did in 1990. It is not that the numbers drinking have greatly increased, rather it is the amount the drinkers consume that has gone up.
Twenty-four per cent of 11-15 year olds consume an average of 10.5 units of alcohol per week. The good news is that Hooch, the first alcopops marketed in the UK, has been withdrawn because of falling sales. The bad news is that the former alcopops drinkers have switched to mixed-spirit drinks such as Bacardi Breezer and Smirnoff Ice.
Drinking by young people in Ireland has increased over three hundred per cent in the last decade, resulting in rehabilitation centres admitting 17 year old alcoholics. Ireland, Denmark and Scotland have the highest binge-drinking rates in the 12-16 year age range. Binge-drinking is defined in these statistics as drinking four to five drinks (or more!) in one sitting, three or more times within a two-week period. It is periodic episodes of excessive and often uncontrollable drinking with gaps of weeks or even months between drinking bouts and (although it may sound like stating the obvious) the purpose is to get drunk.
There are no easy answers to the problem of young people drinking. They will continue to do so whilst television soaps and films depict conflicts between people being settled not by calm reason but by drinking. The soap bars do not provide a clean end to conflict, just a quick alcohol wash! We need to show young people that it is possible to enjoy life without the need to smoke or drink to boost confidence.