Background

The Ballymun Community Alcohol Strategy, part of the Ballymun Local Drugs and Alcohol Task Force (LDATF), aims to use a public health approach to reduce alcohol-related risk to the community’s health, safety, and well-being. One of the objectives of the strategy is to monitor alcohol use, behaviours, and attitudes through surveys. The most recent survey was conducted by IPSOS B&A in 2023 and updates those carried out in 2011, 2015, and 2019, and examines what, if anything, has changed.1

Methods

A representative sample of the adult population (aged 15 years or greater) of Ballymun in Dublin was surveyed in August–September 2023 to examine alcohol use trends, relevant community issues, and the policy context.

Findings

Alcohol use in Ballymun

Last-year alcohol use was reported by 77% of respondents in Ballymun (80% males vs 74% females), a decrease from 83% in 2011 and 78% in 2019, but it is higher than that reported by the nationally representative sample in the 2023 Healthy Ireland Survey (70%).2

Almost one in five of the Ballymun sample reported drinking alcohol 2–3 times per week (19%) and 2% reported drinking on a daily basis. An increase in heavy episodic drinking (HED) was noted in 2023 (46%) compared with 2019 (36%), substantially higher than the national average reported in the 2023 Healthy Ireland survey (24%).

In 2023, over one-third of drinkers reported alcohol initiation (beyond sips and tastes) before 16 years of age (34%). In 2011, the equivalent figure was 26%.

The majority of drinkers reported typically drinking with friends (64%) followed by a spouse, partner or other family members (23%). The number of respondents who reported drinking on their own typically has increased from 3% in 2015 to 10% in 2023. A person’s own home is the most common location for alcohol use in 2023 (38%) followed by a pub, bar or club in the local area (33%).

Approximately one in 10 respondents reported using a drink delivery service (9%) compared with 19% in 2019.

Impact of own alcohol use

Respondents were asked to indicate if they perceived that their alcohol use was having an impact on their life:

• 24% said that their family or friends told them about things they said or did while drinking that they could not remember.
• 24% said that they had a feeling of guilt or remorse after drinking.
• 19% said that they failed to do what was normally expected of them because of their drinking.
• 6% said that they sometimes drink alcohol when first getting up in the morning.
• 23% felt that their drinking harmed their health.
• 19% felt that they should cut down on their drinking.
• 12% felt that their drinking harmed their home life or marriage.
• 10% felt that their drinking harmed their friendships or social life.
• 9% used other drugs while drinking (most commonly cannabis and/or cocaine).
• 8% got into a physical fight when they had been drinking.
• 7% felt that their drinking harmed their work or studies.
• 2% had been in an accident when they had been drinking.

In Ballymun, there was a higher percentage reporting having been in a fight (8%) compared with the national figure (3%). Similarly, 12% of respondents in Ballymun reported harm to their home life or marriage compared with 3% nationally. This may be evidence of the alcohol harm paradox, which is the observation that people living in areas of higher deprivation experience greater alcohol-related harm than those in more affluent areas, even when drinking the same amount of alcohol.3,4

Impact of others’ alcohol use

Respondents in Ballymun experienced a greater level of negative consequences from other people’s alcohol use compared with the national average. For example, 19% of respondents in Ballymun experienced family problems due to someone else’s drinking compared with 11% nationally. In Ballymun, 12% had been hit or assaulted by someone who had been drinking, whereas this figure was 5% nationally. Some 15% had property vandalised by someone who had been drinking compared with 4% nationally, and 12% had financial trouble because of someone else’s drinking compared with 3% nationally.

Attitudes towards alcohol

Compared with the 2019 survey (51%), the percentage of respondents who felt that it is acceptable for parents, relations or family friends to let children aged 16–17 years drink alcohol in the child’s home has fallen in 2023 to 37%; 12% felt that it is acceptable to let children aged 15 years drink alcohol in the child’s home. Also declining is the percentage of respondents who felt that it is acceptable to buy alcohol for a 16–17-year-old (from 38% in 2019 to 20% in 2023), and 4% felt that it is acceptable to buy alcohol for a 15-year-old.

Perception of alcohol in the Ballymun community

The percentage of respondents who considered that the following alcohol-related situations were a ‘very big problem’ or a ‘fairly big problem’ in their local community of Ballymun were as follows:

• Underage drinking – 57%
• Teenagers drinking on the streets or in parks – 51%
• Alcohol-related violence (fights or assaults) – 48%
• Adults drinking in public – 45%
• Drink driving – 28%. 

Alcohol policy perception

Support for alcohol legislation and policies was high. Some 91% agreed (ranging from a little to strongly) that advertising of alcohol on television and radio should be confined to after 9pm to protect children. To gauge support for the proposed legislation in the form of the Sale of Alcohol Bill 2022, some 64% felt that extending the hours at which alcohol can be sold will have a negative effect on public health, public safety, and public order.

Pictured at the survey launch on 27 February 2024 (L to R): Lionel Duffy (Ballymun Youthreach); Calvin Kearney (Ballymun Athletic Club); Roisin Byrne (Ballymun LDATF); Niamh Ní Chonchubhair (Axis Ballymun); Angela Birch (STAR Ballymun, Easy Street Project); Andrew Montague (chair of Ballymun LDATF); Marie Lawless (Ballymun LDATF); Hugh Greaves (Ballymun LDATF); Orla Fagan (Alcohol Forum/Irish Community Action on Alcohol); Dr Aisling Sheehan (Health Service Executive Alcohol and Mental Health and Wellbeing Programmes); Anne Doyle (Health Research Board), and Rachel Mulcahy (Ipsos)

Conclusion

The data from Ballymun indicate that alcohol use is commonplace, as are hazardous and harmful drinking patterns. Of concern is the increase in HED since the last survey as well as the substantially higher than nationally reported incidence of HED in Ballymun. As valuable and necessary as the national picture is, it is also important to understand alcohol use and related harms in smaller communities, especially those susceptible to alcohol-related harms such as Ballymun. The data highlight the importance of continued focus and where specific responses need to be strengthened.

1    Ballymun Local Drugs and Alcohol Task Force and Ipsos B&A (2024) Seeing in the years: alcohol attitudes and behaviours in Ballymun from 2011 to 2023. Dublin: Ballymun Local Drugs and Alcohol Task Force. Available from: https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/40940/

2    Ipsos B&A (2023) Healthy Ireland Survey 2023: summary report. Dublin: Healthy Ireland/Department of Health. Available from: https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/39977/

3    Bloomfield K (2020) Understanding the alcohol–harm paradox: what next? Lancet Public Health, 5(6): e300–e301.

4    Mongan D, Millar SR and Galvin B (2021) The 2019–20 Irish National Drug and Alcohol Survey: main findings. Dublin: Health Research Board. Available from: https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/34287/