Steer clear of excess booze

A RISE in the number of younger people drinking heavily is not a trend this country wanted to see.

- BY DANNY DE VAAL

AROUND 50,000 children start drinking booze each year, while the rate of alcohol consumption between 15 to 24-year-olds is on the rise, sobering data has revealed.

There had actually been a steady decrease in this over recent decades, so an upsurge now is concerning.

One real big problem is around binge drinking and the damage that it can do to your health and wellbeing.

Alcohol is also a depressant, which won't help any young people struggling with their mental health. Moderate drinking is fine but we don't want to see young people fall into bad habits from an early age.

The study from Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI) explored drinking trends amongst young people in this country.

It found consumption between the mid-2000s and the mid-2010s decreased steadily, but since 2015 - it’s started to increase again.

Boffins declared alcohol consumption levels for young people aged 15-24 increased from 66% in 2018 to 75% in 2024.

Researchers also found that teenagers were typically having their first alcoholic drink older at 16.6 years in 2019 compared to 15.6 years in 2002.

They concluded that while it was a positive that youngsters were delaying having their first drink, they found that once they started boozing - they would consume more than the national average.