Let me start by saying that this will not be a puritan rant from some fully-paid up total abstainer, nor an invitation to join the wonderful world of sobriety. I like alcohol. I have done for years. Nothing quite relaxes me like a nice gin and tonic. I’ve found nothing invigorates a conversation more than a few pints. Furthermore, I must confess that on many occasions, as recently as last Friday night, I have been somewhat the worse for drink. In short, I’m no tee-totalitarian .
Nevertheless, I believe that the Irish (along with our neighbours to the East) have a serious problem with alcohol. If you don’t believe me then just take a stroll around any town in Britain or Ireland on a Friday or Saturday night. At kicking out time, the streets fill with drunks looking for a taxi, a kebab, a shag or a fight. The pavement is quickly strewn with chip paper, vomit, urine and occasionally blood. It is not a pleasant sight if you happen to be sober.
However, the wreckage of weekend bingeing is only the most visible evidence of our love affair with the sauce. Other results, such as domestic violence, drink driving and heart disease are less obvious but far more damaging. There is no way around it, alcohol abuse breaks up homes, destroys self-esteem and shortens lives.
Yet, as I said earlier, I’m no Prohibitionist. Alcohol performs many valuable functions. It relieves stress at the end of a hard day making us more tolerable for those we live with. It breaks down social barriers. God knows, if it weren’t for booze, some of us would never pluck up the courage to approach members of the opposite sex.
The problem is not alcohol itself, it’s abuse of alcohol. Too often we keep going, past the time when everyone’s a friend to the time when everyone’s a bastard. Many of my happiest memories involve the moderate consumption of alcohol. Conversely, most of my darkest memories involve the excessive consumption of alcohol. As a society, we have to find a way to control our collective alcoholism without going too far down the road of austere tee-totality.
This is a cultural as well as a social problem. The Irish and British are the heaviest drinkers and the most frequent binge-drinkers in Western Europe. Alcoholism is related to social deprivation but it’s not the whole picture. After all, there are plenty of unemployed Germans and Belgians with low self-esteem. However, they seem much less inclined to reach for the bottle as a solution to their problems.
What is this cultural difference? Partly it’s the way in which alcohol is presented to Irish and British children. Drink is hidden away, something illicit and dangerous which kids can’t get their hands on. So of course, children want to drink because they think it’s mature and sexy. By the time they’re teenagers; many young people spend their evenings on park benches drinking cheap cider until they throw up. It would be far better, as many in continental Europe do, to introduce alcohol to children in a safe and controlled manner. If children are given wine at dinner for example, they start to see alcohol less as some exotic delight and more as part of daily life.
At a wider cultural level, we need to stop lionising famous alcoholics. This is particularly true in Ireland. Heavy drinkers like George Best, Alex Higgins and Shane McGowan are lauded for their addiction. Instead of seeing them as men who drank away their God-given genius, we venerate these people as the very epitome of the Irish psyche, as tragic heroes whose brilliance is matched only by their weakness.
We can only deal with the problem of alcoholism if we grow up and recognise alcohol for what it is, both positive and negative.