This paper examines the Irish drinking habits and to what extent drinking is associated with experiences of adverse consequences in the year 2002. The analysis is based on a survey containing similar questions that was used in a recent European comparative survey involving Finland, Sweden, Germany, UK, France and Italy, known as the ECAS countries (Leifman,2002; Ramstedt, 2002). This provides a unique opportunity to examine the Irish results in a comparative framework. Furthermore, several aggregate level studies have revealed that a higher overall level of drinking in Ireland is associated with higher alcohol-related mortality,e.g., deaths from liver cirrhosis (Ramstedt, 2001), accidents (Skog, 2001) and homicide (Rossow, 2001). However, no previous study has examined to what extent higher alcohol consumption at the individual level affects the likelihood of suffering from adverse health, social and psychological consequences of drinking in Ireland.