Irelands drinking culture and why is not drinking stigmatised?

I think the government should read out the alcohol related statistics every night like they did during covid:

- number of people who died today directly related to alcohol abuse

- number of people killed or horribly wounded in alcohol related car accidents

- number of families destroyed due to alcohol dependency

- number of suicides due to alcohol today

- number of indirect deaths, serious illness due to alchol today

- number of violent attacks, rape ... alcohol related

- unwanted pregnancies

- stupid "I was drunk your honor" excuses in court

- ...

Really it goes on and on.

Was strange seeing lockdows for covid when we have a much bigger problem in the country.

Edit ... I've done really stupid things because of alcohol. In hindsight I was really lucky. Had many great nights ... but things could have gone differently. Also, it's so easy to fall into a "this **** life is good enough" short sighted mode with alcohol.

So, if you are wise you can have your cake and eat it, but for many luck is not on their side and any benefits are lost ... especially as you get older and if you keep drinking. It's a mugs game.

Exactly, grand to be out for a few hours drinking 0% but as people become more and more inhebrirated it's tough going.

As someone who is a drinker with some non drinking friends it can just a mismatch between the wavelengths you are all on a night out.

Drunk people can be really annoying when you are sober. But on the flip side, sober people can also be really annoying when you have been drinking.

The trick really is to find some friend groups that fit in with your lifestyle.

How about busybodies fook off and leave people alone, they won't be happy until its illegal to have a drink.

So much guilt.

If you feel like a drink have a drink.

If you don't feel like a drink leave it out.

It doesn't have to be complicated.

Because it isn't a terrible as some people would like you to believe. Irish "drinking" culture is centred around socialising with other people. The drink aspect of it is secondary. Plus the vast majority of Irish people will tend to drink beers, which is considered the "soft" drink in many other countries. If you go abroad to some other places, you'll see what drinking means to them. In Norway, they augment their beers with a drink called Aquavit, a hard spirit. Booze there costs a lot more than here and the bars are still full. In some states in the US, you'll be looked at in a weird way if you only drank beer. In some parts of eastern Europe beer is for kids.

We Irish have a bad reputation for drinking that goes back many years. But that reputation is largely unfounded and there are many other peoples that could easily drink us under the table.

The thing is we Irish like to have fun and that's what brings us to the pubs. Because there is a type of lively fun that occurs in Irish pubs that's kinda unique. Ask most foreigners what they think of Irish pubs and by and large they'll give you great feedback and Ireland would be a far, far, duller place without it.

In short, Irish drinking culture isn't stigmatised because it doesn't deserve to be.

I think sometimes that drinkers can slag you off for not drinking, or call you a "dry sh!te" etc. when out, because when you are not drinking it highlights their own over indulgence. Has anyone felt similar?

Anyway, no judgment, do what you want within the law and don't be annoying people, and handle yourself well is all I ask for.

As I get older I really notice how practically everything in this country (and probably others aswell) revolves around alcohol consumption. But that's life. As a pp said, surround yourself with like minded people. Be sociable with drinkers, but only stay to a point where you are not bored rigid! A place with live music is a good bet, well for me it is!

And to finish - a hell of a lot of drinkers think that if you give up booze or don't drink that you are a recovering alcoholic. That's one of the reasons it ain't easy to say no I don't drink, especially in the company of people you don't know too well. Assumptions are often made.

Having a hobby or hobbies is always a good idea. But there's nothing to say that it's either the hobby or the pub. Both can co-exist quite comfortably. And if the hobby is physical, then all the better.

As for drinking consuming people's lives, well that's entirely down to the individual. Some people shouldn't drink. In fact they probably shouldn't do any type of activity that involves being "high" in some manner. But that's down to the person themselves and the choices they make. Some people are just susceptible to crutches. Of course, I'm excluding something like heroin and other hard drugs, because they will fuck you up in some way, no exception.

However, the vast majority of people can drink all of their lives and it won't become a life destroying thing for them. They can go out and have a few pints, talk to friends and other people and head off home. They'll regulate their intake, but when that starts to become an issue it's probably time to ease off.

True… What killed that though ? Basically publicans and the greater industry… once pints started going north of 5.20 or so, for a glass of liquid…a lot of people just went… “ I can spend 26 euros on 5 pints… or 12 euros on 6 cans……without inconveniencing myself….

at home you can have your comfort, get in a few snacks, feck around on your console, watch a match, stick Spotify on…. Or a combination of all the above…..Do the aforementioned with friends, or do it alone….. and not feel like you are having the piss taken out of you…

Attitudes are starting to change as more and more people are getting into health and fitness. Gyms are ubiquitous now whereas they would have been very much a fringe activity during the celtic tiger days. Nightclubs are almost non existent now as well.

My own experiences with drinking in Ireland have been mostly negative but that was probably more to do with the people I was drinking with more than anything else. I always enjoyed it a lot more abroad where the alcohol was secondary and I wasn't just getting drunk for the sake of getting drunk.

I agree with @o1s1n about finding groups that fit in with your lifestyle. Easier said than done of course.

I only drank properly around 3 times last year. I met this foreign woman last year and asked her on a 2 night trip away, before we went, it turned out she didn't drink, I was looking forward to having a few drinks as I hardly ever take time off work, then I figured out that she was anti drink and was going to be judging me for having a few drinks so I called off the nights away, fcuk that I'm Irish, even though I hardly ever drink these days, its our culture to let loose every once in a while and im not having someone sitting there judging me for it.

I have one friend who gave up drink a few years ago, he just takes drugs now any time we head out to a gig which is kind of funny when you think about it.

There would be a revolution against all government within a matter of years if alcohol was banned in western society. It’s the tranquilliser of the masses.

MDMA usually.

I know it is but if taken in moderation its likely the better choice than taking MDMA.

I'm in my 30's and drink nowhere near to the same extent as I did in my 20s.

The novelty wears off being pissed and the hangovers are just not worth it. The hangovers are actually the main reason I've cut down. When you've responsibilities beyond yourself you can't spend all Sunday in bed.

I was out last night for a few drinks with friends in a rural town in the West and the place was dead. I don't think that we as a country drink nearly as much as we did. Ten years ago the same town would have been hopping on the Sunday of a Bank Holiday.

Actually it's a poison.

For the 'I don't want to drink anymore because hangovers are terrible/can't spend Sundays in bed' crowd - have you never tried moderating how much you consume on a night out? It doesn't have to be skulling 10 pints and death the next morning.

I'd usually have friends over most Saturdays from maybe 7pm to 12am, drink a few bottles of wine between us, then up at 9am the next day without a hangover.

Would only get hangovers after mad nights out which I'm not into at all anymore. There are ways of enjoying yourself with alcohol without suffering the next day.

I had a friend say to me once that Ireland had two types of people alcoholics and abstaining alcoholics. Ireland has a massively high number of people who are tee-total - but most of those people used to drink heavily until some critical point in their lives made them stop (maybe just family responsibilities took over). Also, the reason you don't see the alchoholics out and about anymore is because they can't afford to be out so they drink at home.

However watching my grown up kids and their friends and I see a definate change of culture away from heavy drinking - which is great for them in so many ways. I like tyo go out and drink but for me I realized about a decade ago that the fun quickly leaves the building after the third or fourth pint.

There were plenty of drugs knocking around before 2000. 🙂

But, yeah, drinking at home and people not returning post Covid are a thing. But let's look at that. Drinking 8 Guinness at home will cost you around 15 Euro. That's won't even cover 3 pints in a lot of pubs today. And post Covid a lot of publicans took the piss and upped their prices to make back their losses. So, again, we're back to cost being the issue.

Put simply, if 8 pints in town cost 15 Euro, there'd be a lot more people going to the boozer.

I was in Portugal over the weekend and a glass of wine in a beach bar on the resort I was staying was 1.50.

I bought one thinking it was going to be crap but it was absolutely gorgeous. Far nicer than the standard of wine you'd be getting here in a lot of bars. Was able to get a full bottle of it for 8 euro.

Pints for 2.50, cocktails for 4.50. I know their economy isn't exactly Ireland but it did put things in perspective here. I'd say the next 7 euro pint of Guinness in Dublin is going to kill me!

Camera phones and social media have ruined the drinking culture for younger people

one mistake and it goes worldwide

Could be 3 bottles between 18 friends...