Home > A long-brewing crisis: The historical antecedents of major alcohol policy change in Ireland.

Lesch, Matthew and McCambridge, Jim (2022) A long-brewing crisis: The historical antecedents of major alcohol policy change in Ireland. Drug and Alcohol Review, 41, (1), pp. 135-143. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13331.

External website: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dar.13...

INTRODUCTION
The Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 in Ireland has been hailed as a world-leading package of alcohol policy reforms. Existing studies have identified the events that led to alcohol emerging onto the high-level policy agenda in Ireland, particularly after 2009. Using policy feedback theory, this study specifically investigates the political consequences of accumulating alcohol-related health and social harms for processes of policy change prior to 2009.

METHODS
The study traces the development of alcohol policy in Ireland over the past three decades. It draws on primary documents, secondary literature and interviews with public health advocates, medical doctors, public health experts and key decision-makers.

RESULTS
The study documents a decades-long struggle to have alcohol recognised as a public health issue in Ireland. We identify 2008/2009 as the key turning point, where policy conditions decisively shifted in a public health direction. We show how insufficient institutional authority and the accumulation of the effects of earlier policy failures helped foster this dynamic. These two factors elevated the visibility of alcohol-related harm for key stakeholders, helping spur greater demand for major policy change.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Not acting on the population health harms caused by alcohol can produce significant societal costs, particularly when consumption is rising, and entail subsequent political consequences. Understanding of innovations in alcohol policy decision making requires an appreciation of the historical context, including earlier policy failures.


Item Type
Article
Publication Type
Irish-related, Open Access, Article
Drug Type
Alcohol
Intervention Type
Harm reduction, Policy
Date
2022
Identification #
https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13331
Page Range
pp. 135-143
Publisher
Wiley
Volume
41
Number
1
EndNote

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