Teen bingers' parents may face jail
Pub-owners will also be punished under proposed laws to tackle nationwide drink problem
TRAGIC: The bodies of father and son Michael and Denis Hanrahan being taken away from their home in Moyvane, Listowel
Parents who allow their children to get drunk or have wild parties could be made "criminally liable".
The legal drinking age is also to be re-examined with a view to raising it from 18 to 21 -- and pub owners who allow people to get drunk and cause trouble may face "very severe" punishment, including prison terms, under new proposals now being considered by the Government.
Justice Minister Brian Lenihan is to announce new legislation "in the coming weeks" to curb drinking in public places, he confirmed yesterday.
He is expected to announce the start of a progressive change in the whole attitude to alcohol consumption in Ireland, which the Government has now finally accepted is out of control.
The coming changes were flagged last month by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, and the Justice Minister is expected to announce the start of a major campaign to control our alcoholic excesses.
The Minister is due to receive a report tomorrow or Tuesday from the government-appointed Alcohol Advisory Committee, which is chaired by solicitor Gordon Holmes. The committee has been studying the sale, promotion, consumption and effects -- aside from health damage -- of alcohol in Ireland.
Mr Lenihan used his St Patrick's Day visit to the United States to examine policies and law enforcement techniques used in Massachusetts, where parents face prosecution if they allow their children to consume alcohol at parties in their homes either when they are present or absent, and where the legal drinking age is 21.
In that state it is even an offence for a young person to drive a car with alcohol stored in the boot.
Bars in Massachusetts can also be closed down and owners face criminal prosecution if they have been found to have allowed customers to get drunk.
During his visit to the United States, Mr Lenihan met the secretary of the Executive Office of Public Safety, an agency which works alongside the Massachusetts police force to implement strict public order laws.
In Massachusetts, a person found drunk in public can be sent to a detoxification centre for up to 30 days, with no visits allowed.
Massachusetts has also had random breath-testing (which only went into operation nationally here over the St Patrick's and Easter periods) for decades, and its rate of road deaths is much lower than here.
Garda management and the Government now agree that public disorder and crime related to alcohol and drug intoxification is the major public safety issue in the State.
"Short, sharp" legislation is already being drawn up and is expected shortly to begin what a senior source described as a "lengthy and progressive" programme to control the country's drinking habits.
Last month, Mr Lenihan also met the chief constable of Cheshire, Peter Fahy, who has become a national figure in Britain for his outspoken views on alcohol abuse and the problem of teenage crime and disorder.
Last month, Constable Fahy told a BBC programme that he believed teenage drinking was the major public safety issue in Britain and recommended the raising of the legal age to 21.
In Britain, a group formed by the drinks industry has come out against the chief constable's recommendation to raise the legal age.
Senior gardai and government officials here say it will be interesting to see what reaction the Irish drinks industry and off-licence retail sector will have to the restrictions, which are liable to hit sales hard.
One senior garda source yesterday said we have failed as a nation to handle drink. The gardai are overwhelmed by drink and drug-related violence and disorder.
In Dublin alone, there are so many cases that gardai are unable to attend court prosecutions and figures show that only one-in-five prosecutions for drink-related disorders leads to conviction.
- JIM CUSACK
