The report, which draws on data from national and international sources, points to considerable improvements in some respects including an increase in the average age at which young people start drinking and an improvement in Ireland’s position compared with EU averages.

However, while drinking among young people declined from the mid-2000s to the mid-2010s, since 2015 that downward trend has reversed with consumption by 15- to 24-year-olds increasing from 66% in 2018 to 75% in 2024. What is also clear is that when drinking is initiated it is accompanied by high levels of particularly risky and hazardous consumption – 64% regularly binge drink and one in three young drinkers has an Alcohol Use Disorder.

Some of the main findings in the report include:

• While drinking among young people aged 15–24 declined from the mid-2000s to the mid-2010s, since 2015 that downward trend has been reversing. Alcohol consumption levels for young people aged 15-24 increased from 66% in 2018 to 75% in 2024.
• The decline in consumption since the highs of the 2000s was driven by younger adolescents, particularly those under 17 – who should not be drinking anyway.
• In 2019 young people in Ireland were, on average, 16.6 years old when they had their first alcoholic drink. In 2002 that number was 15.6 years. However, while young people are delaying alcohol initiation, once they begin drinking they consume alcohol at a level above the national average (75% v 73%).
• Every year approximately 50,000 children start drinking in Ireland. Starting to drink alcohol as a child, which is the norm rather than the exception in Ireland, is a known risk factor for later dependency.
• Hazardous drinking, including binge drinking, is commonplace (64%) among young people and one in three young drinkers has an Alcohol Use Disorder.
• In 2016, 16% of all deaths in Europe among 15- to 19-year-olds were attributable to alcohol, while for 20- to 24-year-olds, this figure was 23%.