Dr Declan Bedford said we need a national strategy that should include minimum pricing in Ireland to control alcohol sales at discount price OF successive governments to develop a National Alcohol Policy has had a “devastating” impact on Irish society in general and family life in particular according to Public Health Specialist, Dr Declan Bedford.

The failure of successive governments to develop a National Alcohol Policy has had a “devastating” impact on Irish society in general and family life in particular according to Public Health Specialist, Dr Declan Bedford.

Bedford was speaking at the annual Irish Medical Organisation Doolin Lecture in the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, yesterday.

In his lecture he said that Ireland has become a nation of binge drinkers with a dangerous ambivalence towards alcohol and the damage it inflicts on lives across the community.