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Bottles of alcohol. Shutterstock/Marcio Jose Bastos Silva

Nearly 55,000 cases of problem alcohol use treated in Ireland over seven years

The figures show the number of cases treated between 2012 and 2018 across the country.

THERE WERE 54,263 cases of problem alcohol use treated in Ireland between 2012 and 2018, according to new figures from the Health Research Board (HRB). 

Research on alcohol treatment in Ireland between 2012 and 2018 showed that many people who received treatment for alcohol as a main drug were drinking more in a typical day than HSE low-risk guidelines recommend in a week.

Around 100 more cases were treated between 2017 and 2018 in Ireland. Each case equals a treatment episode and not a person, meaning the same person could account for several cases in any year. 

Dr Darrin Morrissey, chief executive of the Health Research Board said that one in five cases of people seeking alcohol treatment also report problem use of drugs.

“Cocaine continues to increase as an additional drug being used by both men and women who present for alcohol treatment,” said Morrissey in a statement. 

“This is of concern because mixing alcohol and cocaine can lead to greater physical harm, more severe side-effects and increased impairment.”

The HSE low-risk guidelines for drinking recommend that women drink no more than 11 standard drinks in a week while men should drink no more than 17 standard drinks.

One standard drink is equal to a half pint of beer, a small glass of wine or a pub measure (35 ml) of spirits). It’s recommended to space out these drinks throughout the week and leave two or three days alcohol free each week.  

Just over half of all cases of people treated for problem alcohol use were unemployed. The number of cases that were homeless increased from 0.5% to 10% of all cases. Almost seven in 10 cases treated were already alcohol dependent.

Nearly two-thirds of those treated were male. The highest number of cases in any given year during this seven-year period was 2012 when 8,609 people were treated for problem alcohol use. 

Polydrug use (problem use of more than one drug) was a factor in just over one-fifth of cases treated for problem use. Cannabis was the most common additional drug recorded. 

The number of cases treated increased in Dublin went from 1,629 in 2012 to 1,907 in 2018. Case numbers more than halved during this same period in Longford, from 110 in 2012 to 40 in 2018.

Similarly, Cavan saw a decrease in cases from 203 in 2012 to 78 last year.   

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    Mute Logan Shepherd
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    May 6th 2020, 12:18 PM

    My mother’s uncle’s sister’s brother’s niece’s son has it on good authority, that Penney’s delivered gift bags to the night staff in at least one Dublin hospital. So well done Penneys. That’s true btw.

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    Mute Richard
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    May 6th 2020, 12:23 PM

    @Logan Shepherd: Yep I heard that from my son’s best friend’s brother’s uncle’s sisters cousin. True story.

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    Mute J
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    May 6th 2020, 12:26 PM

    @Logan Shepherd: I heard it from Mr Penney himself.

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    Mute Logan Shepherd
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    May 6th 2020, 12:29 PM

    @J: Good for you J. It was a nice gesture. Do you know if it was given to more than one?

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    Mute Paul Murphy
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    May 6th 2020, 12:34 PM

    @Logan Shepherd: yes every Penny’s disease it. My daughter went on last to prepare the bargain Clonmel. I work in Kilkenny and we got some here from the local branch

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    Mute Logan Shepherd
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    May 6th 2020, 12:37 PM

    @Richard: Is it Richard??

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    Mute Logan Shepherd
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    May 6th 2020, 12:39 PM

    @Paul Murphy: Good form imo. Well done to you all. Brilliant typo in the current climate btw :-)

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    Mute Joe Toner
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    May 6th 2020, 12:41 PM

    @Logan Shepherd: I’m running out of jocks and tights. Wish they would send me on an emergency pack to tide me over.

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    Mute Logan Shepherd
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    May 6th 2020, 12:43 PM

    @Joe Toner: One word Joe .. commando ..

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    Mute Joe Toner
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    May 6th 2020, 12:50 PM

    @Logan Shepherd: Oh you daredevil!!

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    Mute Logan Shepherd
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    May 6th 2020, 12:55 PM

    @Joe Toner: Well considering the good weather and social distancing .. if ever there was a good time Joe …

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    Mute Joe Toner
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    May 6th 2020, 1:01 PM

    @Logan Shepherd: Well Logan taking what you say into careful consideration…… I’m going to give it a go. The next comment I post may be from a Garda Station or some other suitable place of detention.

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    Mute Logan Shepherd
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    May 6th 2020, 1:06 PM

    @Joe Toner: Just to be clear Joe, look up “going commando” before you leave the house. It’s not something you get arrested for :-)

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    Mute Richard
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    May 6th 2020, 1:07 PM

    @Logan Shepherd: yep although I will admit the sourse was exaggerated lol.

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    Mute Olivia Smith
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    May 6th 2020, 1:12 PM

    @Logan Shepherd: It was done in a lot of country’s. It was on their Instagram page.

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    Mute Logan Shepherd
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    May 6th 2020, 1:16 PM

    @Richard: Ok .. as per the article, you understand I had to check :-)

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    Mute Joe Toner
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    May 6th 2020, 2:08 PM

    @Logan Shepherd: Where I live it is!!!

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    Mute Logan Shepherd
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    May 6th 2020, 2:20 PM

    @Olivia Smith: That’s brilliant, I love to hear stories like that.

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    Mute Fabio Dillon
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    May 6th 2020, 12:19 PM

    Who are the sad people spreading these? What toadish humans.

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    Mute Mark H
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    May 6th 2020, 12:27 PM

    @Fabio Dillon: it always gets me thinking, why bother, do they just get a kick out of seeing if people will believe and spread it or what? Just pathetic really.

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    Mute D'oh
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    May 6th 2020, 12:36 PM

    @Fabio Dillon: It’s mostly donkeys not humans.

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    Mute SC
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    May 6th 2020, 3:31 PM

    @Fabio Dillon: And why do they always have bad grammar?

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    Mute Hilda Gannon
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    Jun 1st 2020, 8:08 PM

    @D’oh: Please don’t insult donkeys. They wouldn’t spread false stories. Only idiotic humans are capable of that.

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    Mute paddy
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    May 6th 2020, 12:40 PM

    hope ur ok pm hun xx

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    Mute Eamonn Connaghan
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    May 6th 2020, 1:47 PM

    Sweatshop workers/slaves breath a sigh of relief.

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    Mute deisecelt
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    May 6th 2020, 4:17 PM

    @Eamonn Connaghan: a massive sigh of relief after primark announced they were still paying all their factories workers 100% during this period unlike most competitors. What they earn is relative to the wages set in their countries. If the clothes were made here they would be a lot more expensive and wed all be in rags like we were pre 1960s

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    Mute Dave Hammond
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    May 6th 2020, 3:29 PM

    true , there is also often a pretty sinister reason for getting people to forward and share these messages – all sorts of cyber scams thats have nothing to do with the content of the message in question at all – best not to share and forward any unsolicited messages on your devices these days.

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    Mute Shane Carter
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    May 6th 2020, 2:16 PM

    To be fair I can see people making these out of boredom during lockdown, obviously you’d have to be very sad to, but, I think people get a kick out of knowing gullible people will be quick to jump on this stuff sharing it on Facebook or Whatsapp.

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    Mute Writeon
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    May 6th 2020, 5:15 PM

    @Shane Carter: I don’t quite get it with this post. I mean, it’s poor English, but Penney’s saying they will re-open in June is hardly an unbelievable statement that only the gulible will fall for and allow you to laugh at people. What’s the point! What do these sados get out of it!? Would they get a kick out of telling me it’s 11:23am when in reality it’s 11:24am!? It all reminds me of a mentally disabled child I used to babysit who liked to turn the lights on and off thinking it was some sort of joke!

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    Mute Patrick Carr
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    May 6th 2020, 3:48 PM

    Petty sure the rumour started off as an article on the Liberal that mistakenly/deliberately gave this as the opening date.

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    Mute Emily Martin King
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    May 6th 2020, 5:49 PM

    Look if its “reported” by The Liberal it’s fake. They aren’t exactly known for their journalistic integrity

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    Mute Anne Busher Collins
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    May 7th 2020, 5:21 PM

    So how come Dunnes Stores has opened all it clothing departments where they are attached to a supermarket.

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    Mute Hilda Gannon
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    Jun 1st 2020, 8:15 PM

    @Anne Busher Collins: Brown envelopes perhaps??
    Or probably just because they can. There must be a grey/nebulous area in the Rules & Regulations or no specific mention in the Road Map that allows it to continue.

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