St. Patrick's Day and the demon drink

schween

mallachyrivers wrote: »

Whats the point of giving out about it if you have no opinion on how to tackle the 'issue', which i don't really think there is, not the prettiest side to our society, but it is, grow up and deal with it!

So you don't think that the alcoholism that affects society, which is best shown on Paddy's Day, is a problem? And yet you tell him to grow up and deal with it...

mallachyrivers

schween wrote: »

So you don't think that the alcoholism that affects society, which is best shown on Paddy's Day, is a problem? And yet you tell him to grow up and deal with it...

Paddy's day is not a day that shows alcoholism, most of the people out on Paddys day probably haven't been out since christmas, the people who have a problem with alcohol will be drinking everyday! If people want to gat drunk what can you do? Its not the people who go out once in a blue moon who cost us in the health system or are clogging up our courts!

Doc Ruby

jkforde wrote: »

we proudly show off this stupidity to the rest of the world. /rant

Except a high tens of millions of the rest of the world are doing the exact same thing only harder and louder.

Fuinseog wrote: »

is this not about kill joys and people who hate don't get invited to parties?

Fixed.

I love the way a couple take the opportunity to have a pop at the Irish. People love the Irish and they love Ireland. A majority of US presidents have made it their business to visit our little rock jutting up out of the Atlantic. If you don't like the Irish and Ireland, take a hike and go bother boards.uk or something.

mallachyrivers

ben.schlomo wrote: »

So he should engage on his own with a bunch of young drunks who clearly as stated above are looking for trouble!!! Why shouldn't they just shag off and not bother regular joes?

Maybe he could. Why isn't everything perfect?

Doctor_Socks

mallachyrivers wrote: »

Maybe he should stand up for himself!

Stand up for myself against a bunch of drunken underage people? Now there's a great response, either end up getting a bottle to the back of the head or i've just kicked the crap out of some young lad! Either way I don't come out of the situation in a good light! I'd love to see you put your great plan into action.

As for choosing a different way to walk home, why should I have to walk around? This should be something that the guards handle since the same bunch of youths are drinkin around the same area each week and they're never told to move.

ben.schlomo

mallachyrivers wrote: »

Maybe he could. Why isn't everything perfect?

Great argument alright :rolleyes:

mallachyrivers

Doctor_Socks wrote: »

Stand up for myself against a bunch of drunken underage people? Now there's a great response, either end up getting a bottle to the back of the head or i've just kicked the crap out of some young lad! Either way I don't come out of the situation in a good light! I'd love to see you put your great plan into action.

As for choosing a different way to walk home, why should I have to walk around? This should be something that the guards handle since the same bunch of youths are drinkin around the same area each week and they're never told to move.

Well have you notified them? Walking around seems like the thing to do so, you'll feel an awful lot better if you just avoid it, don't just whinge

BhoscaCapall

zenno wrote: »

The reason for this is because it always ends up with too many people stabbed or assaulted and it's true

People are frequently stabbed on Paddy's day in Galway? News to me.

I do see more violence on the 17th, my friend was headbutted for asking for a smoke once, and I've seen full on bar-room brawls in nightclubs. Funnily enough, both incidents involved members of the particular 'culture/community' I alluded to earlier. Not young people.

zenno wrote: »

paddy's day is just an excuse for people to let go and go mental on the drink

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. People's reputation here for going a bit mental on the drink is what attracts millions of euros of tourism, I dare say more than the culinary offerings or even theatres and performing arts. Deal with it.

Sponge Bob

biko wrote: »

If the weather is nice there'll be a lot of bushing down the Arch.
If it's p***ing down pretty much nothing will happen..

Yep. That is exactly what I think every year.

If it is dry and warm expect bodies falling pished into in the Corrib down in Bucky Plaza. Thankfully it looks a bit cool and wet right now so ....no fatalities this year. :cool:

BhoscaCapall

If it's a nice day, I wonder will the council supply extra bins or temporary urinals :rolleyes: or will they just tut to themselves and then moan about litter and urinating.


Or maybe just ban St Patrick's Day. It worked with RAG Week after all :pac:

inisboffin

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

[
And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. People's reputation here for going a bit mental on the drink is what attracts millions of euros of tourism, I dare say more than the culinary offerings or even theatres and performing arts. Deal with it.

Have to disagree with this. It is our reputation for *fun* (which amazingly enough some people can even do without drink!)
Having a couple of pints, laughing, listening to music, telling stories, sightseeing is why they come here in droves - *social* drinking is not 'going mental'. Manys the tourist has also been put off by public brawling, vomiting, p*ssing, harassment etc - all symptoms of overdoing it or going mental. Frankly I think think the Irish (I'm Irish myself) are comparatively cr*p at handling their drink. Sloppy happens pretty soon for many.

Craic - yes. P*sshead eejits, no thanks.
Unfortunately a good chunk people can't help wandering over that invisible line on a regular basis.

jkforde

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

People's reputation here for going a bit mental on the drink is what attracts millions of euros of tourism, I dare say more than the culinary offerings or even theatres and performing arts. Deal with it.

had a read this a few times... and sadly I'm not surprised but depressingly saddened by it. either the poster is deliberately trying to rise us (trolling?) or they've a sadly limited expectation of life and fun.

as a people we've a blind addiction to alcohol. and like an addict we've cemented in our heads a false link between having fun & getting totally hammered ('having craic', 'having a few') to the level that the above quote is made in all seriousness.. if it's not a troll, it speaks for itself.

but he's right, we do need to deal with it. but not by cowardly denying it and not by deluding ourselves that it's the glorious centre of our culture, the very thing that attracts tourists here... oh, how they love to come visit here to slip and slide in puke, listen to the distant echos of puking down a cobbled lane, wonder at the balanced poise of the fellas as they pissss into the river, perhaps a touch of random vandalism to improve the aesthetics of the town. ah yes, only us Paddys would be proud to sell that as our prime cultural attraction.

ben.schlomo

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

People are frequently stabbed on Paddy's day in Galway? News to me.

I do see more violence on the 17th, my friend was headbutted for asking for a smoke once, and I've seen full on bar-room brawls in nightclubs. Funnily enough, both incidents involved members of the particular 'culture/community' I alluded to earlier. Not young people.


And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. People's reputation here for going a bit mental on the drink is what attracts millions of euros of tourism, I dare say more than the culinary offerings or even theatres and performing arts. Deal with it.

The more you post the more i realise its simply for attention. Quite possibly the most mis-informed downright clueless post i think i've ever seen.
And also stop blaming members of what you call that 'particular community' for any violence or trouble that takes place on Paddys Day, personally anything i've ever seen is done by members of 'the Irish community'!!

Doc Ruby

jkforde wrote: »

as a people we've a blind addiction to alcohol

Ahoy laddies, there she blows, the fail whale.

Statistically speaking the Irish used to be below the European average for alcohol consumption (pre 2000), never reached the top spot during the bubble, and are on the way back down again now.

In fact even those statistics are debatable due to differences in what constitutes "leisure activities" is recorded here and in Europe. I certainly saw plenty of lunchtime pints in the UK and France, something you never see here.

I'll thank you to keep your ignorant racist stereotyping to yourself like a good lad, and stop doing a disservice to those millions of Irish people, the vast majority, who either don't drink or drink responsibly. Where are you from yourself, by the way?

celty

Doc Ruby wrote: »

Ahoy laddies, there she blows, the fail whale.

Statistically speaking the Irish used to be below the European average for alcohol consumption (pre 2000), never reached the top spot during the bubble, and are on the way back down again now.

In fact even those statistics are debatable due to differences in what constitutes "leisure activities" is recorded here and in Europe. I certainly saw plenty of lunchtime pints in the UK and France, something you never see here.

I'll thank you to keep your ignorant racist stereotyping to yourself like a good lad, and stop doing a disservice to those millions of Irish people, the vast majority, who either don't drink or drink responsibly. Where are you from yourself, by the way?

That's ridiculous. It is a FACT that Irish people drink way too much, that our AE departments are clogged up every weekend with people who've done stupid things under the influence, and the statistics are staggeringly high when you think that something like 20% don't drink at all.

There is a time bomb here in terms of liver problems, etc.

Go to Spain or somewhere and they know how to party, but they don't feel the need to get blotto out of their minds and their city centres are not scarily full of zombies at 3am or 4am.

Paddy's Day (or night) is an embarrassment because it is so messy, because as JFK above rightly says we don't seem to know how to enjoy ourselves without getting out of our minds.

Doc Ruby

celty wrote: »

That's ridiculous. It is a FACT that Irish people drink way too much, that our AE departments are clogged up every weekend with people who've done stupid things under the influence, and the statistics are staggeringly high when you think that something like 20% don't drink at all.

Bullshit. If you think that putting FACT all in capitals makes it so, you might want to check some actal facts before hanging out your ignorance for the world at large to admire.

Heavy drinking is part of the culture of Northern Europeans in particular.

In the 25-member EU (excluding new additions Romania and Bulgaria), 90 percent of 15- and 16-year-old students have consumed alcohol at some point in their lives, a rate far higher than in the United States, according to the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs. On average, they begin to drink at 12½ and get drunk for the first time at 14. Among 15-year-old Danes, 50 percent of the boys and 37 percent of the girls drink every week, according to a study by the University of Copenhagen.
In countries such as Ireland, the UK and Denmark, what is termed "binge" drinking is common. This refers to reserving drinking alcohol for a few days a week - usually from Thursday and then consuming 4 or more liters of beer or 7 pints of beer in an evening. The intention of some younger drinkers is actually to get drunk/merry when heading out on an evening to drink.


Ireland's per capita litre consumption increased from 7.0 in 1970 to 14.5 in 2001 according to the World Health Organization and 13.5 in 2004. This compares with 20.4 in France in 1970 down to 13.0 in 2004.

McCoy wrote in The Irish Times that that spending on alcohol is recorded differently across the EU in contrast to Ireland. When comparisons of alcohol consumption are made, distinction is normally made between spending on alcohol in pubs on the one hand and in off-licences on the other. In most European countries only spending in off-licences is attributed to the category "alcohol" in national statistics, whereas money spent in pubs and restaurants is included in categories such as "recreation" or "entertainment".

The Irish numbers, in contrast, include spending in off-licences and pub sales combined. A recent Drinks Industry Group of Ireland report estimated that 70 per cent of alcohol in Ireland is bought in pubs and restaurants. This is a substantially higher proportion than our European counterparts, largely due to the greater propensity for Irish people to drink in pubs and restaurants rather than at home. The inclusion of both categories therefore greatly inflates alcohol expenditure levels in Ireland in comparison with other EU countries. While there is a continuing trend towards more off-licence sales in Ireland, it is the classification distinction that significantly explains the exaggerated comparisons of Irish alcohol expenditure with other countries.
In the context of a comprehensive measurement of alcohol spending, it could be argued that the Irish proportion of expenditure on alcohol is not overestimated; rather other countries' expenditure ratios are underestimated. The recent national accounts from the Central Statistics Office show that expenditure on alcohol in Ireland is 8.6 per cent of total personal expenditure, which has declined from 10.8 per cent in the mid-1990s. The recent EU-funded report claims that Ireland spends three times more than any other country on alcohol. However, using directly comparable data, a far different story is told.

Between 1995 and 2004, households in Ireland spent an average of 2.6 per cent of their personal expenditure on alcoholic beverages - when measured as off-licence consumption. In Greece the proportion is smaller, at 0.9 per cent, but certainly not 10 times smaller as widely reported. Ireland was surpassed by Finland, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic, which had averages of 3.8 per cent, 3 per cent and 5.2 per cent respectively. When on-licence trade is factored back in, Ireland would emerge towards the top of the expenditure league, but by no means anywhere near the exaggerated multiples normally reported.

Expenditure figures are a combination of the actual quantity of alcohol consumed and its price. The fact that taxes on alcohol are higher in Ireland than in most EU member states inflates the expenditure levels without necessarily implying greater consumption levels. Per-capita alcohol consumption levels in Ireland are high by international standards, but not disproportionately so. The trend over the last decade was for actual alcohol consumed to rise as income levels increased significantly, but at the same time the proportion of expenditure on alcohol declined. A number of factors led to the increase in alcohol consumed, particularly the huge growth in the numbers of people in the 18-25 age group and increased inward migration of adults.

celty wrote: »

Paddy's Day (or night) is an embarrassment because it is so messy, because as JFK above rightly says we don't seem to know how to enjoy ourselves without getting out of our minds.

Do you seriously believe that drunken carousing on St Patricks is confined only to Ireland? Tens of millions of people around the world will be doing the exact same thing, often to a greater degree.

Doc Ruby

And where's the breast beating and tearing out of hair over this:

Britain is the 'binge-drinking capital of Europe'

Britain is the binge-drinking capitol of Europe, with 12 per cent of the population admitting they have up to ten drinks in a single night out, according to new research.



A Europe-wide study found that although the British are not the EU's most regular drinkers – only consuming alcohol an average of four times a week – they drink the most at one sitting.

The findings expose the failure of 24-hour drinking laws, introduced five years ago in the hope of creating a more continental-style café culture.

The research, by pollsters Eurobarometer, found British drinkers consume more in one session than any other of the EU's 27 nations.

Only the Maltese and the Finnish could match the quantity of drink consumed at a single sitting, with one in ten drinking the same quantity as the British.

And only two out of ten Britons said they had consumed no alcohol at all in the past 12 months, compared to double that number in Portugal, Italy and Hungary.

But no, its drunken paddies making a show of themselves.

jkforde

diluting this with statistics about UK and EU consumption patterns and ad hominem attacks doesn't help us understand why we Irish commonly applaud & back-slap along to stories of people who were 'era, just having the craic' who in fact got blinding & dangerously drunk, puked on themselves or others, got into fights, fell into the Corrib, fell and cracked their heads open, insulted or attacked health AE staff etc etc. and we accept and expect this kind of craic on any celebratory whim. the rest of the world may drink more but we take a chunky biscuit for tastelessly swallowing down the most in the least amount of time (then can't remember it).... and we call this fun?

the Savage Eye...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLD5F1E2F1B4950EF3&feature=player_detailpage&v=-epKVS8x-Gk#t=57s

happy St. Patrick's Day

Doc Ruby

jkforde wrote: »

diluting this with statistics about UK and EU consumption patterns and ad hominem attacks doesn't help us understand why we Irish commonly applaud & back-slap along to stories of people who were 'era, just having the craic' who in fact got blinding & dangerously drunk, puked on themselves or others, got into fights, fell into the Corrib, fell and cracked their heads open, insulted or attacked health AE staff etc etc. and we accept and expect this kind of craic on any celebratory whim. the rest of the world may drink more but we take a chunky biscuit for tastelessly swallowing down the most in the least amount of time (then can't remember it).... and we call this fun?

the Savage Eye...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLD5F1E2F1B4950EF3&feature=player_detailpage&v=-epKVS8x-Gk#t=57s

happy St. Patrick's Day

Oh yeah, never mind those damn statistics, facts, research, government agencies, and all that guff, listen to the ignorant stereotyping instead! Where did you get your facts from, the Simpsons?

Its this kind of sly "the simple natives can't handle their firewater" nonsense that needs to go, even if its perpetrators are so backwards that they genuinely can't understand why its wrong.

JR6

All this talk is making me excited about Paddys day! Roll on Saturday!!:D

ben.schlomo

Doc Ruby wrote: »

Oh yeah, never mind those damn statistics, facts, research, government agencies, and all that guff, listen to the ignorant stereotyping instead! Where did you get your facts from, the Simpsons?

Its this kind of sly "the simple natives can't handle their firewater" nonsense that needs to go, even if its perpetrators are so backwards that they genuinely can't understand why its wrong.

So give us your actual opinion on the drinking culture in Ireland instead of throwing out random studies and facts so!

Doc Ruby

ben.schlomo wrote: »

So give us your actual opinion on the drinking culture in Ireland instead of throwing out random studies and facts so!

Nothing whatsoever random about the facts and studies, they were raised in direct response to the slanders being thrown at the good name of Irish people.

I think that there's not much different in the amount we drink to many of our European neighbours, although the patterns of drinking are closer to the Nordic or English than the French or Spanish.

There are problems, of course, there are problems with substance abuse in every country, and these do need to be addressed. But singling out the Irish as particular offenders is simply not supported by the facts, and worse is perpetuating a half assed 19th century racial stereotype that has the real potential to affect young people at home and abroad in their futures.

ben.schlomo

Doc Ruby wrote: »

Nothing whatsoever random about the facts and studies, they were raised in direct response to the slanders being thrown at the good name of Irish people.

I think that there's not much different in the amount we drink to many of our European neighbours, although the patterns of drinking are closer to the Nordic or English than the French or Spanish.

There are problems, of course, there are problems with substance abuse in every country, and these do need to be addressed. But singling out the Irish as particular offenders is simply not supported by the facts, and worse is perpetuating a half assed 19th century racial stereotype that has the real potential to affect young people at home and abroad in their futures.

I dont think anyone is singling out the Irish but its a thread on St Patricks Day and people are discussing the inevitable drunken carnage that will come with this, its a fair assessment of the situation as its what happens every year, we Irish binge drink, many of us cant handle our drink and many more are dependant on it, yes this happens elsewhere too but we do have a problem with alcohol in this country and something needs to be done to help and discourage young people from the ills of drink. Education should be the starting point and a ban on alcohol advertising at certain sports events would be wise in my opinion, the link between a sporting event and everyone getting drunk in the clubhouse after should be cut.

Mrs OBumble

All these statistics about averages fail to deal with the real issue: as well as having a lot of heavy drinkers, Ireland also has a lot of non-drinkers. This means that arithmetic mean, as used in the quoted studies, is reasonably meaningless. (pun deliberate!)

Doc Ruby

ben.schlomo wrote: »

I dont think anyone is singling out the Irish

Are we reading the same thread. Here let me help you.

jkforde wrote:

we've a pathetic and insidious blind spot with alcohol and the 17th is the day where we proudly show off this stupidity to the rest of the world.

as a people we've a blind addiction to alcohol. and like an addict we've cemented in our heads

Such comments as these undeniably single out the Irish and are loaded with racial overtones as well.

ben.schlomo wrote: »

but its a thread on St Patricks Day and people are discussing the inevitable drunken carnage that will come with this, its a fair assessment of the situation as its what happens every year, we Irish binge drink, many of us cant handle our drink and many more are dependant on it, yes this happens elsewhere too but we do have a problem with alcohol in this country and something needs to be done to help and discourage young people from the ills of drink. Education should be the starting point and a ban on alcohol advertising at certain sports events would be wise in my opinion, the link between a sporting event and everyone getting drunk in the clubhouse after should be cut.

To repeat myself, yes there are problems here just as there are problems everywhere. My objection is to grotesque generalisations that would be more in place in a Punch comic circa 1840.

JustMary wrote: »

All these statistics about averages fail to deal with the real issue: as well as having a lot of heavy drinkers, Ireland also has a lot of non-drinkers. This means that arithmetic mean, as used in the quoted studies, is reasonably meaningless. (pun deliberate!)

Really? Yet another comment devoid of fact flying in the face of careful and deliberate research by governments?

ben.schlomo

Doc Ruby wrote: »

Are we reading the same thread. Here let me help you.

Such comments as these undeniably single out the Irish and are loaded with racial overtones as well.


To repeat myself, yes there are problems here just as there are problems everywhere. My objection is to grotesque generalisations that would be more in place in a Punch comic circa 1840.


Really? Yet another comment devoid of fact flying in the face of careful and deliberate research by governments?

Talk about going overboard on it, JKF was talking about St Patricks Day, not St Davids Day or St Georges Day, its an Irish day, so therefore we talk about Irish people and how they interact with alcohol, if you want to start a general alcohol abuse thread then do but otherwise i think you might find that people will mention the Irish in the St Patricks Day thread. Its nothing to do with generalisations or racial stereotyping, its what people witness with their own eyes.

Doc Ruby

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Its nothing to do with generalisations or racial stereotyping, its what people witness with their own eyes.

I've quite a bit of difficulty taking what people "see with their own eyes" at face value when a comment like this:

jkforde wrote:

as a people we've a blind addiction to alcohol.

isn't seen as racial stereotyping. For pity's sake, can you even read what's been written.

ben.schlomo

And just for Doc Ruby as you love facts so much theres a few nice ones in the link below.

http://alcoholireland.ie/alcohol-facts/alcohol-related-harm-facts-and-statistics/

Doc Ruby

ben.schlomo wrote: »

And just for Doc Ruby as you love facts so much theres a few nice ones in the link below.

http://alcoholireland.ie/alcohol-facts/alcohol-related-harm-facts-and-statistics/

So what? None of the above is a reason to single out Irish people. If the rest of the world were teetotallers, it would be, but they definitively aren't.

You'd want to take a good hard look in the mirror laddie, along with your fellow travellers.

crusher000

RINO87 wrote: »

offies cant open till 12 on patricks day anyhoo, its the same as a sunday.

Well done Rino. Your correct the pubs and off licenses can't open unti 12 and must close same hours as Sunday. St. Patricks day is not a bank holiday but I'm no holy Joe a Church Holiday. You wouldn't think it though.