The average Irish drinker consumes a bottle of vodka a week, shocking new statistics which expose Ireland’s perilous drinking patterns have suggested.

Irish children are also drinking stronger alcoholic drinks, from a younger age and more than ever before, according to the report of the National Substance Misuse Strategy Steering Group. The report revealed the average Irish adult drank 11.9 litres of pure alcohol in 2010, corresponding to 482 pints of lager, 125 bottles of wine or 45 bottles of vodka per year.

“Given that 19 per cent of the adult population are abstainers, the actual amount of alcohol consumed per drinker is considerably more. While alcohol consumption has reduced since 2000, adults in 2010 were still drinking more than twice the average amount of alcohol consumed per adult in 1960,” the report stated...