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Ireland tops the list internationally as 85% of people here pre-drink

A new study looked at how a number of factors influenced pre-drinking.

A NEW STUDY has put Ireland top of the list of countries that pre-drink before going out.

The research found that in a survey of 25 countries, Ireland had the highest rate of pre-drinking, with 85% of people surveyed saying they drank alcohol in a private setting before going out to a pub.

The study, published in the Drug and Alcohol Review journal, was featured on the front page of this morning’s Irish Examiner. It looked at the effects drinking, heavy drinking and drink prices had on pre-drinking behaviour.

It estimated the percentage of pre-drinkers in countries using data from the Global Drugs Survey, with 65,126 people surveyed in total across the 25 countries.

In Ireland, 1,883 people were surveyed.

Greece has the lowest percentage of pre-drinkers (17.7%). Norway was closest to Ireland in terms of pre-drinkers, with just over 80% of respondents pre-drinking.

Next came New Zealand (78.7%) and Denmark (76.2). In the UK, just over 75% of people said they pre-drank.

The study found that countries that had a higher level of current drinkers tended to have a higher percentage of pre-drinkers. Just over 80% of Irish people surveyed were current drinkers. While 48.2% of drinkers were described as heavy drinkers.

The results also showed that a higher the ratio between off-premises and on-premises drinking (as in, the higher the difference between drinking at home compared to drinking in a pub) resulted in a higher percentage of pre-drinkers.

“Pre-drinking appears to be a worldwide phenomenon,” the studies authors concluded.

Read: ‘We can celebrate without getting drunk’: Pioneers release St Patrick’s Day message

Read: Most Irish people think drinking to excess is part of our culture

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23 Comments
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    Mute Anthony Hilton
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    Aug 16th 2021, 3:40 PM

    When will people realise that the government don’t care about the people

    154
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    Mute Larsen Cib
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    Aug 16th 2021, 3:45 PM

    @Anthony Hilton: why not? Leonardo and Martin said thank you didnt they?
    Now you can store a big thank you in your fridge and pay for your transport to work.

    Just let them know that you are paying with the governments ” thank you “

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    Mute Colm OS
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    Aug 16th 2021, 4:52 PM

    Without doubt Healthcare workers deserve recognition and reward but it wasn’t just Healthcare workers who put themselves at risk. All the supermarket, pharmacy and non hse Healthcare staff (as a few examples) all took on risk which they deserve to be rewarded for

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    Mute Niamh Hughes
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    Aug 16th 2021, 11:57 PM

    @Colm OS: Dunnes stores employees got a 10% raise and a 20% discount card for their shopping. I stand to be corrected but I also think Tesco rewarded their employees too. Healthcare workers got a round of applause.

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    Mute John Fagan
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    Aug 16th 2021, 5:10 PM

    The problem with this is that if you give to one in the union, you have to give it to the lot of them. This includes managers who sat at home during the pandemic, administration staff who worked from home and people who just didn’t bother coming in because they didn’t want to catch covid. Plus the fact that every other public servant will want it. Who decides who deserves it?

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    Mute Niall Lee
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    Aug 16th 2021, 5:22 PM

    @John Fagan: every single one of them

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    Mute Garreth mc mahon
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    Aug 16th 2021, 3:51 PM

    These unions need separation from influence of government, if they are unhappy, go to LRC or labour court for each law broken if any. The days of ministers showing up at conventions also need to stop. The unions have never helped to fix the issues and it’s amazing how many pay rises fix the issues in the HSE

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    Mute GrumpyAulFella
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    Aug 16th 2021, 3:40 PM

    The demand doesn’t seem to be very clear. Are the unions looking for compensation for all workers in the health sector, front line workers or what exactly? How many staff are they seeking compensation for? The HSE employees about 70,000 alone, throw in all the voluntary hospitals, care workers…. They must be able to put a number on it.

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    Mute Derek Moean
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    Aug 16th 2021, 4:10 PM

    Leo will give them around of applause…

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    Mute Ian Breathnach
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    Aug 16th 2021, 9:01 PM

    @Derek Moean: he’ll give them a pay rise, then claim he too is a Doctor and take said pay rise himself.

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    Mute Margaret Kane
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    Aug 17th 2021, 12:34 PM

    TDs certainly don’t suffer hardships they’ve no problems robbing the taxpayers money to give themselves big rises

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