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A NEW SURVEY suggests that Irish teenagers are practicing certain illicit behaviours a good deal less than their European counterparts.
The results of the latest European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) indicates that smoking and drinking are showing signs of decline in 15 and 16 year olds across the continent, while concerns remain over newer drugs and other addictive behaviours.
The project, which has been running at four year intervals since 1995, surveyed 96,043 15 and 16-year-old students in 35 European countries in 2015.
In Ireland’s case, in three of the eight categories surveyed Irish teenagers showed slightly above average levels of prevalence.
Those categories are: lifetime use of new psychoactive substances (NPS), lifetime use of inhalants, and lifetime use of illegal drugs other than cannabis.
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NPS drugs include the likes of 25I-NBOMe, commonly known as an N-bomb, the ingestion of which resulted in the death of Cork teenager Alex Ryan in January of this year.
In more positive news, the Irish teenagers surveyed were well below the European average for cigarette use in the last 30 days (13% against an overall average of 21%), alcohol use in the last 30 days (35% versus 48%), and heavy episodic drinking in the last 30 days (28% versus 35%).
Alcohol use
Some of the specific findings of the report regarding Irish teenagers and alcohol use meanwhile include:
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Speaking in reference to the survey, Conor Cullen of Alcohol Action Ireland said that the “positive trends” seen in the results are “very welcome”. However, he added that one of the categories in which Ireland is not below the European average is the number of teenagers who have been intoxicated in the last 30 days.
“This reflects the trend of heavy episodic drinking, or drinking to the point of drunkenness, which is commonplace throughout all age groups and responsible for a large burden of alcohol harm in Ireland,” Cullen said.
When children and young people are consuming large volumes of alcohol in a short space of time then they are putting themselves in immediate danger, not just in terms of alcohol’s direct impact on their physical and mental health, but also the poor decision-making, accidents and the other forms of risky behaviour that we know go hand-in-hand with binge drinking.
Overall, the report found 54% of respondents across Europe had never smoked, while lifetime use of alcohol had decreased from 89% to 81% among those surveyed in the 20 years between 1995 and 2015.
The Espad report also suggests that “close monitoring” is needed regarding gaming, gambling, and teenagers’ use of the internet.
You can view the full report here, and the Ireland-specific version here.
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He looks nothing like Liam Neeson!
Should this not have been state property since it was made ?
Not if it was made by his family.
And was it ?
Jaysus I couldn’t tell you, but I would imagine so if his grand-niece had it.
There was no autopsy or coronial inquiry so it could only have been made by his family.
A true Irish hero
Poignant and creepy at the same time.
WTF is a death mask?
It’s a quaint little British execution ritual that was practical in the days before cameras, but was continued even after the advent of cameras, and which former British colonies such as Malaysia and Singapore still do today. When someone is executed, and as only a handful of officials are allowed to be present, a plaster cast of the executed persons face is made postmortem as proof that they had been executed, and could then be publicly displayed. I don’t know why one would have been made of Collins.
Would love to have seen it go to Collin’s barracks in Cork.
Yes he was a true son of Cork, until ye shot him.
@ Brian , that was sheer brilliance
Dev’s crowd shot him !
Lol, Brian :)
They should leave us at least keep the bullet then.
…but they were still from Cork!
A true irish warrior.alot of lives could of been saved had he not been killed
ffs gimme a break,what about having some respect for people who had a profound impact on our history without being so flippant,can’t you people take sometime out and be more informed,I hate stupid comments
Won’t be queuing up to see that, not even if it was Elvis’s!!
Free world is great! You actually don’t have too!
Dev set him up. COLLINS knew he signed his death warrant when he signed the treaty. He also knew the orange thugs of Carson et Al were armed to the teeth , British officers in Kildale were allowed not to engage loyalists forces and the blood thirsty Churchill made it very clear to Collins that not signing the treaty would result in huge deaths, mainly Catholic. It was a stepping stone and De Velera is no hero of mine. Using collins as a scapegoat. He only escaped execution in 1916 because he was American.
Michael Collins true Irish hero.
God rest him.
My daughters in the background pic
Béal na mBláth not Béal Na mBláth.
A hero……..also a ‘terrorist’ if he existed today. Just read the laws brought in recently. Red thumb this comment away but you know its true. This govt who lay wreaths at his grave, would all be screaming for his arrest. Because traitors wouldnt be around long if he was here.
Cop on. Terrorists . FFS. He got rid of the British terrorists and if that means shooting black and tans and the Cairo gang then that makes him a liberator of Ireland from British rule. War is not meant to be nice.
did you not get what i meant you complete idiot. Im highlighting the hypocracy of our govt who call him a hero while doing being complete traitors to this country. Are you one of those thickos who think loosing our soveignity is fine unless its to the british?
It wasn’t presented by Collins’ nieces, it was acquired for the visitor’s centre by Private Noel McDonnell. Helen Collins and Mary Claire O’Malley were just there to view it on the day.
Anybody care to explain WTF a death mask is?
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