Irish people are being left ‘almost completely in the dark' about the role that alcohol plays in many deaths every year because newspapers are failing to report on this, a new study suggests.

It found that in 100 reports of 43 alcohol-related deaths, not one newspaper article stated that the person who had died was drunk.

The research focused on the way in which newspapers reported on alcohol-related deaths in Ireland over a two-year period.

Alcohol-related deaths were due to alcohol poisoning or trauma, such as road traffic accidents, drowning, falls and choking, where alcohol was identified as ‘a causal contributor to death'.

Deaths due to chronic alcohol-related medical conditions and suicide were not included in the research....