Alcohol Action Ireland, the national charity for alcohol-related issues, is urging the next government to adopt a five point action to aid the estimated one in 11 children negatively affected by parental alcohol problems in Ireland.
Alcohol Action Ireland Director Fiona Ryan said: “Parental alcohol problems can and do have a serious impact on a child’s welfare and safety – with one in every six cases of child abuse in Ireland attributed to alcohol. As a society, we deny or ignore the impact of parental alcohol problems on children, yet these children are often leading lives of quiet desperation, unseen and unheard.
“They get our attention only when the most extreme cases come to light and we prefer to think of these as isolated incidents.