Drink - and who is in charge of the country

S

shnaek

Registered User
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599
Once again we are told who are in charge of the country. The scumbags. Of course, many of us know this already.

So the rights of responsible citizens is to be curtailed. We will only be able to purchase drink to take home up until 10 o'clock. And we will need separate buildings in our supermarkets (I don't know anywhere else in Europe where this is the case) as we will no longer be allowed to buy alcohol with our food. A victory for the scumbags.

This is the inevitable consequence of the dumbing down of news and of our society in general. DRINK is to blame. So DRINK is now an animate object, is it? Will drink be given rights under our constitution?

Let us be sensible. PEOPLE are the problem. Not DRINK. Tackle the people responsible, and we tackle the problem. Blame problems on inanimate objects, and you end up with a society where the majority suffer for the actions of the minority. And that is not democracy.
 
I don't see where scumbags come into it really. I don't agree with the planned changes but but most of the people at fault for being drunk in public would be 'ordinary' folk.
 
MrMan said:
I don't see where scumbags come into it really. I don't agree with the planned changes but but most of the people at fault for being drunk in public would be 'ordinary' folk.
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Do you believe this law is being enacted to stop ordinary people being drunk in public? If so, how is this law going to achieve this aim?
 
I don't like the use of the word scumbags. I don't think it helps the very real issue that alcohol use and abuse is a very big social problem in this country. It does not affect just one socio economic group ( your "scumbags") - it affects ( off the top of my head)

1. Teenagers
2. Young women
3. Young men
4. Middle aged couples who enjoy their several bottles of wine over the weekend
5. Lonely older people
6. Married people of all ages
7. Single people of all ages

etc.,etc

Norway is very restrictive about the sale of alcohol and alcohol over a certain strength can only be bought in a state run off licence.

France has a very liberal attitude to alcohol but,and I'm open to correction, they do not have the alcoholicism problem that we have in this country.

A Dutch colleague said that he thinks that many Irish people drink to get drunk - and not to socialise. I think he's right and I do not have a problem with restricting the sale of alcohol if it impacts on a serious social problem.

mf
 
mf1 said:
A Dutch colleague said that he thinks that many Irish people drink to get drunk - and not to socialise.
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That is quite possibly the case. When I lived in Germany I usen't drink as much as I do here, despite the fact that I was out till 6am or later most nights. The reason I didn't drink as much (despite the superb beer over there!) was because I had a choice of excellent clubs to go to, where I was spending too much time dancing to have any time to drink. Ireland has a dreadful selection of clubs, force feeding the punter such dreadful music as to make it compulsary to loose ones senses in order to be able to tolerate it at all!

mf1 said:
I think he's right and I do not have a problem with restricting the sale of alcohol if it impacts on a serious social problem.
mf
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I don't agree with restricting our freedoms based on the fact that a certain section of society cause problems. Enforcement of laws should tackle behaviour. Of course, I am a supporter of John Stuart Mill, so I believe that someones freedoms should not be impacted upon unless they are causing harm to others. And if they are causing that harm, then they themselves should be tackled. Not some inanimate object, or it's availability to those who enjoy it in moderation. Of course, I am amongst those who would prefer to live in France, Italy or Spain rather than Norway.
 
shnaek said:
Do you believe this law is being enacted to stop ordinary people being drunk in public? If so, how is this law going to achieve this aim?
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Spot on. To stop ordinary people being drunk in public they would have to curtail the opening hours of pubs and clubs.
 
mf1 said:
A Dutch colleague said that he thinks that many Irish people drink to get drunk - and not to socialise.
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Last time I was in his country, I couldn't walk my kids down the street without meeting strung-out junkies or spaced-out dopeheads. Not exactly ideal company to socialise with. He should clean up his own backyard before criticising us.
 
mf1 said:
France has a very liberal attitude to alcohol but,and I'm open to correction, they do not have the alcoholicism problem that we have in this country.
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Don't bet on it. Alcoholism tends to raise its ugly head everywhere, regardless of the availability or otherwise of alcohol. I have seen alcoholics lying in the streets in India where there is zero culture of alcohol consumption and alcohol is difficult to find. The street and subway underpasses in Budapest are full of winos, yet you don't read too much about Hungarians having an especially serious problem with alcohol, and alcohol is easily available there. Just because you mightn't see Frenchmen or women lying in pools of vomit on the Champs Elysees doesn't mean that they don't have a problem.
 
Surely this isn't really coming into force? - I thought it was some kind of joke.

We buy our shopping in Tescos, at about 11:00pm when the shop is pretty much empty. We often would pick up a bottle of wine. So now we can't do this any more? - I know who the real scumbags are.

It certainly will be a step backwards if it is coming into force. How do the people of Ireland stop 'those with power' from doing this?
 
How about applying the existing laws and penalising people who are drunk in public?
200 hours of community service or a few nights in the slammer might do the trick. If someone wants to get drunk at home that's their own business, the issue here is public drunkenness.
 

Spot on.
 

I can see St Patricks Day parades being very quiet affairs then, as at the moment it's like a legal public pi$$-up !
 

Excellent idea!
 

Exactly.

There is another paradox in towns like Wexford where if you want a bottle of wine or beer after dark, you have the choice of (1) going to Tesco and parking safely within the building, or (2) driving down the main street, parking some distance away from the off-licence and hoping that some layabout does not attack you between your car and the door of the off-licence, particularly when you are carrying booze on the way back. (3) going to the pub and running the same risk as option 2.

These measures could conceivably lead to more violence, not less.
 
ubiquitous said:
Just because you mightn't see Frenchmen or women lying in pools of vomit on the Champs Elysees doesn't mean that they don't have a problem.
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Yeah, but it's their own problem.

The issue is one of behaviour. In italy and spain you can buy bottles of beer for 40 cents at any time a shop is open. Yet it doesn't lead to the combat levels of drinking we see here when beer is three or times that price.

What needs to be addressed here is the culture of acceptance that excessive drinking is okay. I'm not convinced that restricting the times at which drink is sold can change that culture but I'm open to the views of experts in the field who have done a bit of research.
 
The same so-called experts that advise on health strategy/economic strategy/planning strategy? I'd prefer import those experts from France and Germany myself.
 
There are laws in place at the moment to curb people drinking in public. Drinking a can of beer in a park, doorway, waste ground or in alleys of housing estates is illegal and can lead to imprisonment or a fine...

Anyone ever see a garda arresting someone for drinking in public??? I sure haven't and you can see it any night of the week in any town, city, village or hamlet in Ireland.
 

I agree, that's my point.
 
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