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Anti-alcohol campaign group say criticism is "premature"

The group have issued a number of radio and billboard advertisements in recent weeks.

AN ANTI-DRINKING GROUP has responded to criticism over its affiliation with drink company Diageo.

This follows an expression of opposition to the campaign in a open letter.

The letter has been signed by a number of high-profile individuals including comedian Des Bishop, folk singer Christy Moore and TD Róisín Shortall.

Speaking to TheJournal.ie, a spokesperson for the ‘Stop Out of Control Drinking’ group, said, “Fergus Finlay (chairman of the group) has said that has said that he respects everyone’s opinion on it but it is very premature to judge.”

He went to say:

While Diageo provides the money, they don’t control the board. There are no shares allocated on the board. The thirteen other people on the board are not getting paid anything.

The drinks company has provided substantial financial backing for the campaign. None of the group’s board members receive a salary.

Resignation

The follows the resignation of Dr Ciara Kelly from the board.

In a statement issued yesterday it was said that this was due to time constraint and that Kelly maintained her support of the campaign.

The group has issued a number of radio and billboard advertisements in recent weeks promoting its anti-alcohol message.

Alcohol consumption on the rise

This comes after the release of new figures by Alcohol Action Ireland that indicate a rise in alcohol consumption in Ireland.

The figures the group has produced come from corroborated data from the Office of the Revenue Commissioners and the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The amount of alcohol consumed in 2014 was said to be 11 litres, which was an increase from the 2013 figure of 10.73 litres.

Despite the slight rise there was still an overall drop from 2011 and 2012 when alcohol consumption was at an average of 11.7 litres.

Read: Drink up! Scientists say you’re more attractive after having a glass of wine

Also: Shocking teen drinking: ‘They could be knocked down or aspirate in their own vomit’

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39 Comments
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    Mute Gordon Gekko
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    Mar 6th 2015, 2:07 PM

    Well I for one am absolutely against minimum pricing and a ban on sports advertising.

    Why should the majority of society be penalised and punished because of those who are weak.

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    Mute Pedro deluvio
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    Mar 6th 2015, 2:14 PM

    Ah ha!

    Because it’s f@cking up our society.

    48
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    Mute Kevin Higgins
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    Mar 6th 2015, 2:19 PM

    What about kids advertising?

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    Mute Gordon Gekko
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    Mar 6th 2015, 2:50 PM

    No its not fecking up our society. Government ministers blame alcohol because its easy to make a quick buck off and its acceptable to blame anything on something that *can* be addictive. Anti-drink organisations are obviously against it because it enables their existence.

    Realistically the problem lies with our health service. Compare the HSE to the NHS. I unfortunately had to make a trip to A+E last weekend in London. I was dreading it. 4 am on a Saturday night, I was expecting it to be mayhem as I was instructed to go to one of the main hospitals too.

    Much to my surprise it was calm and pleasant. No blood…no junkies…no nothing. There was a queue of 2 people ahead of me. Took just over half an hour to be seen to and was on my way home. Now that is how a health service is supposed to be run. People drink as much in England as they do in Ireland. Its just managed a lot better. A city of 8 million people versus a city of 1.5 million.

    The government in Ireland needs to be held accountable for the shoddy service they are not providing for citizens. You pay your taxes to run the country to an acceptable standard. Not to pay off banking debts. (sorry to bring up that old card)

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    Mute Keith Twamley
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    Mar 6th 2015, 3:26 PM

    Rather than have Anti Drinking organisations, the drinks company should fund a drink hospital, all drink related injuries and issues should be treated there, taking them away from the already slammed A&E services. I see James’ A&E a lot, and it’s an utter disgrace the things they have to deal with.

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    Mute Pedro deluvio
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    Mar 6th 2015, 3:42 PM

    What about it?

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    Mute Pedro deluvio
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    Mar 6th 2015, 3:46 PM

    Ah will ye stop.

    So there is no drinking problem in Ireland then? And it’s all the HSE’s fault?

    Your reading to many papers gekko.

    Bury your head in the sand and take a look around.

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    Mute Gordon Gekko
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    Mar 6th 2015, 4:19 PM

    @ Keith – I think its a combined results of the actions of the police and health services in the UK that has the strain taken off. There are so many coppers on the beat in the main areas, even taking things into proportion, you would rarely see the same amount of police in Dublin. Their presence alone is enough to nip things in the bud, Also there these type of “sobering up” cafes where drunk people are brought to have a coffee and something to eat for free. It might cost a few pounds but it save police and medical personal from dealing with less than serious cases.

    Even the service I used at the weekend was an NHS advice line which I rang to see if my problem warranted a trip to A+E just to be sure. Again it costs a few quid to run a service like that but it saves time and money for the really serious things. In the end, I didn’t ring an ambulance for myself and just hopped in a taxi to go to the hospital. So there are lots of things that can be learned from over here and implemented effectively in Ireland.

    @Pedro – I didn’t say there wasn’t a drinking problem in Ireland but its not as bad as its made out to be. 99% of drinkers can go out without battering each other or giving themselves alcohol poisoning, Why should they be punished because of the few that can’t control themselves?

    Its not all the HSE’s fault either. They can only work with what they are given. The problem is the inefficient top level administrators and the warped priorities of the government.

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    Mute steve white
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    Mar 6th 2015, 1:59 PM

    their campaign has started how is it premature to criticise it

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    Mute Gerry with a J
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    Mar 6th 2015, 2:05 PM

    An “anti drinking group”. They sound great craic.

    71
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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello
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    Mar 6th 2015, 2:11 PM

    They’re not anti-drinking, they’re anti “out of control” drinking.

    46
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    Mute Frank Buffalo
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    Mar 6th 2015, 2:14 PM

    Yer man in the photo is necking a bottle of vodka!

    52
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    Mute Jack Bowden
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    Mar 6th 2015, 2:05 PM

    The amount we drink is well down on the amount we drank at the turn of the century. We drank nearly 14.5 litres of alcohol in 2000 and in 2001.

    51
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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello
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    Mar 6th 2015, 2:09 PM

    Is that litres of alcohol or litres of alcoholic beverages?

    Because if it is the latter, we could have just moved switched away from beers and ciders towards more spirits and alco-pops, and still be consuming much more alcohol.

    And if it’s the former, we’d all surely be dead already?

    20
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    Mute Anthony O'Shea
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    Mar 6th 2015, 3:02 PM

    Its the former, statistics on alcohol consumption are normally given as liters of pure alcohol/year.
    Shocking I know. It averages out as a little over one standard drink per day, every day.

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    Mute Jack Bowden
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    Mar 6th 2015, 3:13 PM

    40 500ml cans of beer at 5% alcohol = 1litre of alcohol.

    40 X 14.5 = 580 cans of strong beer (year 2000)

    40 X 11 = 440 cans (year 2014)

    That’s a lot of drinking considering loads of people don’t drink at all.

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    Mute Proinsias Ó Foghlú
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    Mar 6th 2015, 4:27 PM

    If over the week one drank a 0.75L bottle of wine and 4.5 x 500ml cans that would be the equivalent of 11 litre of alcohol:

    0.75L x 13% x 52 Weeks = 5.70L
    2.25L x 5% x 52 Weeks = 5.85L

    Totals 10.82L of pure alcohol.

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    Mute Ireland Unlocked
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    Mar 6th 2015, 5:26 PM

    Yes Jack, so the drink industry keep telling us while they conveniently ignore that:

    Alcohol consumption in Ireland increased by 46% between 1987 (9.8 litres) and 2001 (14.3 litres) when our consumption reached a record high – See more at: http://alcoholireland.ie/facts/how-much-do-we-drink/#sthash.801BSSVr.dpuf

    You can learn more about our current and historical alcohol consumption from an independent source at http://goo.gl/YDNNvf

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    Mute Ryan Anth
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    Mar 6th 2015, 2:07 PM

    Every since I was in school, when the annual faux shock moral panic over urban legends esp related to JC / LC night and “what dey get up te” this stuff has brought me great amusement. These parents are SHOCKED…SHOCKED that their child might binge drink but they draw no dots between their kids drinking and these same parents (in many cases) being in the pub every weekend themselves (some daily) and EVERY SINGLE event in their lives being associated with drink (weddings, christenings, birthdays….maybe they think thats the main way to enjoy yourself and socialize because you drown every single social event in it yourselves? MAYBE?

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    Mute Gordon Gekko
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    Mar 6th 2015, 2:10 PM

    What exactly is wrong with consuming alcohol at every special occasion if you so choose to?

    Lets demonise alcohol just like we have with other drugs. Yes that is sure to work.

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    Mute Niall Mullins
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    Mar 6th 2015, 2:13 PM

    “The amount of alcohol consumed was 11 ltr”
    Per person per sitting, per year, per capita? What exactly are you trying to portray there or compare it too?
    11ltr is 22 pints which is not exactly a massive amount if one were to drink 5 pints every sat night for example.

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    Mute Dermot Bohan
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    Mar 6th 2015, 2:34 PM

    It is very vague reporting. Maybe the author had a pub lunch. The link provided in the article though states 11litres of pure alcohol per person per year.

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    Mute Eric
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    Mar 6th 2015, 2:02 PM

    In fairness, people who “drink responsibly” are normally dry shats.

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    Mute Shane Cormican
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    Mar 6th 2015, 2:26 PM

    I wonder will Freud Finlay’s next presidential bid be sponsored by Guinness?!?

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    Mute RonanM
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    Mar 6th 2015, 1:57 PM

    The 2014 increase can be put down to many factors!

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    Mute simon shewster
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    Mar 6th 2015, 3:21 PM

    I’m off drink a month, haven’t felt as good in 15 years. Alcohol removes natural fears and replaces them with false fears and insecurities. One of the biggest scams that ever was.

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    Mute Shane Cormican
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    Mar 6th 2015, 4:24 PM

    That scares me

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    Mute simon shewster
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    Mar 6th 2015, 4:41 PM

    Why’s that?

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    Mute Reuben Gray
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    Mar 6th 2015, 3:23 PM

    That’s 11 litres of pure alcohol per year. Where is that figure coming from though?

    A small rise? This is at odds with both the WHO and OECD reports which indicates a steady decline in alcohol consumption in Ireland since 2000. There are no 2013 or 2014 figures in either the OECD report or WHO report. The reports were only released and took a number of years to compile I imagine. The OECD reports up to 2012 and WHO up to 2010.

    We are above the OECD average of about 9 litres but we are not the highest either and heading in a downward direction. As usual, this is just more propaganda from the alcohol is evil campaigners who will not be happy until prohibition returns.

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    Mute Paul Circle
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    Mar 6th 2015, 3:27 PM

    If Finlay and the do gooder brigade don’t want to drink then don’t – but for f@@ks sake stop telling the rest of us how to live our lives !

    These perfect people want to penalise ordinary hard working people for drinking a cheap can of beer – GET OUT OF OUR FACES !!! We already pay too much tax !

    I was doing my shopping in on Sunday morning at twenty past twelve in the afternoon and the supermarket refused to sell me a bottle of wine – I had to come back after 12 and before 10pm – getting silly – if there’s a problem with people drinking then deal with those people and leave the rest of us ALONE!!!!

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    Mute Paul Circle
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    Mar 6th 2015, 3:28 PM

    oooops – get my facts right —– come back after 12:30 …

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    Mute Jacinta
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    Mar 6th 2015, 3:15 PM

    Wont stop me getting bladdered!

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    Mute Ireland Unlocked
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    Mar 6th 2015, 5:12 PM

    What’s really ‘premature’ is Fergus Finlay launching a campaign of this nature in virtual secrecy without any consultation with established organisations with alcohol harm public health expertise such as Alcohol Action Ireland and The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. Then again, these organisations clearly recognise the simple conflict of interest in a alcohol harm reduction campaign directly funded by a company that exists to sell more alcohol.

    It’s also interesting that Dr Ciara Kelly is so knowledgable on the positions of fellow board members on issues like sports sponsorship when in her time on the board of the campaign, according to Mr Finlay, she did not attend even one board meeting. The fact is that Keiran Mulvey, Gavin Duffy, Rob Hartnell and David Smith have all taken pro-alcohol sports sponsorship positions publicly and it is difficult to believe that Simon Keogh of IRUPA, with his rugby links, would not also be in favour of it given the drinks industry contribution of 9m euros to that sport annually.

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    Mute Chauncey Gardiner
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    Mar 6th 2015, 3:56 PM

    Not like Dr Ciara “Ubiquitous” Kelly to step away from the limelight!

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    Mute Anthony Lang
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    Mar 6th 2015, 6:38 PM

    The alcohol companies are to be commended for seeking to reduce sales of their products, to reduce overall turnover and to cut back on profitability.

    The next promotional offer is a free liver transplant in return for 20 years hard drinking.

    I hear that the tobacco companies are no proposing to introduce free heart and lung transplants for 20 years of smoking but you have to prove that you started by 16 years of age.

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    Mute Ireland Unlocked
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    Mar 6th 2015, 5:30 PM

    For truly independent action to reduce alcohol harm, let your TD know you want real change based on hard evidence, not hypocritical self-righteous opinion It’s easy, see

    http://goo.gl/E0n0yt

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    Mute Michele Savage
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    Mar 6th 2015, 4:00 PM

    It’s more a case of anti-involvement with the alcohol beverage industry. Not ant-alcohol, not anti-campaign.

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    Mute Shane Cormican
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    Mar 6th 2015, 2:27 PM

    Sorry Freudian slip there should be Fergus:)

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    Mute New Age Vending
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    Mar 6th 2015, 4:47 PM

    The machines we supply hopefully will teach people what their limits are and know the way their body handles alcohol

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