Garda body calls for drink sales ban at petrol stations

[Olly64]

i thought the drinking culture here has improved, i think its down alot than it was 10 years ago, personally i i think if your working hard all week you are entitled to go out and get rat arsed of a saturday night, i dont think baning petrol stations from selling drink is going to do anything, i dont see a link between this and drink driving, if thats the case why dont they ban off licences from selling alcohol too

 

[room305]

Individual choices are being taken away because many people abuse their freeedoms, I agree that this deleterious but the only way to prevent this is for people to wake up to the reality that drink abuse is drink abuse and should not be socially acceptable. Harsher criminal penalties for alcohol abuse and a strong anti-alcohol message starting from school is the way forward I think.

Slap-headed nanny state nonsense. You cannot offer people individual freedoms only to remove them if they engage in practises which meet with your disapproval. If the problem is social disorder then tackle the problem not the perceived cause. You are advocating a policy of putting the whole class on detention because some idiot won't stop throwing pieces of chalk when the teacher's back is turned.

There are plenty of other drugs that cannot be advertised and are not available in petrol stations but still manage to cause [broken link removed].

 

[z108]

The Gardai should stick to enforcing the laws fairly and leave it up to those duly elected by people to debate these issues. It is not their function to introduce laws. Which Garda body is the outspoken one and since when is its function to represent its members views on drink ? This is complete nonsense.

 

[wavejumper]

Have I missed out on an epidemic of drunken Irish falling around the streets,.

You probably did. When I lived in Temple Bar I had to tip toe my way to the newsagent on Sunday mornings in order to avoid the several pools of vomit and copius amounts of shattered glass in the way. Check out temple bar from around 11pm onwards any fri.sat night, you'll see what I'm talking about.

I really think people overstep the mark when wide generalisations are used to sum up the 'culture' of a nation.

My describing how alcohol abuse is seen as an addiction and a sign of poor upbringing refers to Italy and I think it is fairly accurate judging by the look on my Italian mates when they see how people interact with alcohol here. I didn't overstep any mark, this is a public forum and I am expressing my opinion.

How Alcohol abuse is perceived in Ireland is different. Which is why you have to put up with the heavy handed state intervention aimed at curtailing its consumption. Everyone moaned about the smoking ban, nanny state this and that, and yet it was a brilliant piece of legislation aimed at protecting non smokers. Cracking down on alcohol abusers will benefit those who drink responsibly. I do agree that banning sales of alcohol at petrol stations sounds a bit thick though. I'd start with criminal offence rep for being drunk and disorderly in public and really enforce it.

 

[room305]

I'd start with criminal offence rep for being drunk and disorderly in public and really enforce it.

This is a criminal offence and it has been known to be enforced.

 

[MrMan]

You probably did. When I lived in Temple Bar I had to tip toe my way to the newsagent on Sunday mornings in order to avoid the several pools of vomit and copius amounts of shattered glass in the way. Check out temple bar from around 11pm onwards any fri.sat night, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Fair enough, but I don't think anyone could use Templebar as a benchmark for the Irish drinking culture, is that not the area where revellers from further afield i.e UK, descend upon on stag weekends. Would it be fair to say that taking a step outside of Templebar could offer one a different outlook on the Irish drinking 'culture'.

My describing how alcohol abuse is seen as an addiction and a sign of poor upbringing refers to Italy and I think it is fairly accurate judging by the look on my Italian mates when they see how people interact with alcohol here.

Again maybe you should take your Italian mates outside of Templebar and possibly away from the city. There are of course scenes of drunken abandon in every area, just as you might see in any country, Italy included.

 

[ClubMan]

The Gardai should stick to enforcing the laws fairly and leave it up to those duly elected by people to debate these issues. It is not their function to introduce laws.

Yes but...

Which Garda body is the outspoken one and since when is its function to represent its members views on drink ? This is complete nonsense.

... it was not the Gardaí themselves who were calling for this measure. It was the outgoing chairman of the Garda Síochána Complaints Board (which is being superceded by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission). See here.

 

[ClubMan]

There are of course scenes of drunken abandon in every area, just as you might see in any country, Italy included.

Yes - but the earlier comments about heavy drinking and drunkeness having much more of a social stigma in countries such as Italy are certainly true in my experience.

 

[wavejumper]

Fair enough, but I don't think anyone could use Templebar as a benchmark for the Irish drinking culture, is that not the area where revellers from further afield i.e UK, descend upon on stag weekends. Would it be fair to say that taking a step outside of Templebar could offer one a different outlook on the Irish drinking 'culture'.



Again maybe you should take your Italian mates outside of Templebar and possibly away from the city. There are of course scenes of drunken abandon in every area, just as you might see in any country, Italy included.

I'm not just talking about Temple bar...look I've lived here 12 years now, if I had a big issue with how you interact with alcohol I wouldn't be here...God knows I have taken part in a good few sessions and had good craic and all that...still you have to admit that there are very troubling issues associated with the abuse of alcohol, from public order, to road accidents and the more hidden aspects of suicide and domestic violence. There's a very high incidence of these issue compared to other EU countries I think and it seems this country's governement is finally aware of this and they are trying to take measures against it...maybe some are knee jerk reactions but I would not see these attempts as negative...people need to be made aware that regular drinking is not a good thing, that it shoud not be a regular activity for all social occasions. I see the Italian/mediterranean approach of looking at regular drinkers as sick people as a better option for the long term...i'm not judging anyone here, offering just my opinion.

 

[room305]

...still you have to admit that there are very troubling issues associated with the abuse of alcohol, from public order, to road accidents and the more hidden aspects of suicide and domestic violence.

Doubt anyone will disagree with this.

There's a very high incidence of these issue compared to other EU countries I think and it seems this country's governement is finally aware of this and they are trying to take measures against it...maybe some are knee jerk reactions but I would not see these attempts as negative

You will note though that most European countries have more liberal licensing laws than we do. As our laws in this regard have become more liberal people's attitudes to drink have improved. My fear is that these kneejerk reactions no matter how well intentioned will have the opposite effect to that intended. The state shouldn't try and bully people into behaving in a certain way.

...people need to be made aware that regular drinking is not a good thing, that it shoud not be a regular activity for all social occasions. I see the Italian/mediterranean approach of looking at regular drinkers as sick people as a better option for the long term...i'm not judging anyone here, offering just my opinion.

Again, Italy has more liberal laws maybe that feeds into a more responsible attitude to drinking. Making people aware that too much drinking is bad is one thing - the state actively intervening to prevent people from drinking as much as they want is another.

 

[MrMan]

I think every country has its own problems in terms of what is socially accepted etc, Italy and many other EU countries might frown on our perceived drinking culture, yet we have shown that we are now much maturer we have become in our attitudes to drink driving as opposed to years ago. Our relatively smooth transition to no smoking in the workplace is another example of our national maturity. I could be wrong and can't back this up, but is there not a more relaxed attitude to smoking in the med. My only gripe and this isn't aimed at you wavejumper is that we constatly seem to ge knocked as this socially inept country in terms of Ireland - the land of the pissheads- I don't think its warranted any more.

 

[wavejumper]

if I thought living in Italy was better I'd be there, i'm not here because i need work I can assure you, i like the people, the culture (drinking or not) and i feel i can drop my 2 cents now and then with what i think is contructive criticism.
I don't know what other eu countries look at ireland as, i know from living in it that there's an inordinate amount of importance attached to booze...it's everywhere and it's costing you in many ways...
as i noted drinking is not a big issue where i'm from not because it is easily available but because you would alienate your peers if you drunk as people drink here...the 'fun' has been taken out of the drinking in a way, but people still manage to have fun...
i doubt it would ever happen here but i think the only way is to increase the social stygma on drinking.

 

[ubiquitous]

My describing how alcohol abuse is seen as an addiction and a sign of poor upbringing refers to Italy and I think it is fairly accurate judging by the look on my Italian mates when they see how people interact with alcohol here.

Even though the alcohol culture in Italy is totally different from here, i think it would be a mistake to automatically assume that they is no alcohol abuse or alcoholism there. Twenty years ago when the British papers started highlighting cases of child abuse in the UK, I remember people saying that we were lucky that this sort of thing doesn't happen in Ireland.

And an official intolerance to alcohol does not in itself equate to prevention of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. I have seen (native) drunks lying in the gutter in places like India and Morocco, where there is no real culture of even moderate drinking.

 

[z108]

the look on my Italian mates when they see how people interact with alcohol here. I didn't overstep any mark, this is a public forum and I am expressing my opinion.

Another side to this is...
I've been to enough parties involving foreign students from Spain, Italy etc to know they love to get drunk if given half an excuse. Another thing is the vast majority of them smoke marijuana. If you go to Temple bar around the outside of any pub you'll find a Spanish or Italian person inside a doorway or around a corner on the outside rolling something.
As far as I'm concerned the stereotype of the Irish as hopeless drunks stems from the occupation in history and coupled with the promotion of cheap alcohol was a propaganda tool made to suppress us.
What I would like to see is the statistics for alcohol, cigarette and drug abuse country by country. That would probably teach us something. The economy is obviously doing well so whos doing all this drinking while everyone works ?

 

[wavejumper]

Another side to this is...
I've been to enough parties involving foreign students from Spain, Italy etc to know they love to get drunk if given half an excuse. Another thing is the vast majority of them smoke marijuana. If you go to Temple bar around the outside of any pub you'll find a Spanish or Italian person inside a doorway or around a corner on the outside rolling something.
As far as I'm concerned the stereotype of the Irish as hopeless drunks stems from the occupation in history and coupled with the promotion of cheap alcohol was a propaganda tool made to suppress us.
What I would like to see is the statistics for alcohol, cigarette and drug abuse country by country. That would probably teach us something. The economy is obviously doing well so whos doing all this drinking while everyone works ?

yes, spamspamspam in Italy very common with young people, unlike here? sarcasm aside, you can look at other countries and their stats and whatnot but the OP stated "Surely the nanny state has outlived its usefulness", and I disagree, the nanny state here is needed, there is an unhealthy releationshiop with alcohol heavily promoted by the drink companies. you're dragging in the Italians and the Spanish because I pointed out my nationality but I don't really see how the students party behaviour has any connection to the points raised by the OP. this is a larger issue.

 

[z108]

you're dragging in the Italians and the Spanish because I pointed out my nationality

You will have to take my word for it that I was ignorant of your nationality when posting. It didnt even register with me where you are from. I speed read across the posts and noticed the comparison of here with continental Europe and some remark that other countries in continental Europe had superior systems. I can then only offer my first hand experience for examination along with a view that alcohol abuse is only one way to compare national drug abuse between different countries.
I disagree with the nanny state. However I do want existing laws to be properly enforced upon those who attempt to ruin quality of life for the rest of us.

 

[wavejumper]

You will have to take my word for it that I was ignorant of your nationality when posting.

No problem with that.

I'm sorry my comments came across as if I was saying the Mediterranean approach was superior. What I meant is that from my subjective point of view, having been raised in a country where excessive drinking is frowned upon, the effort by the state to induce a similar view over here is not a bad idea. I agree that banning the sales of booze from petrol stations seems a bit daft.

On te other hand I personally thought the ban on smoking was excellent, it helped me kill a 15 year habit for good...so you see, for some people these things might work.