'Cut-Price' Booze Debate Underlines Local Underage Drinking Scheme

As Britain's largest supermarket giant, Tesco, has called on the Government to introduce new laws to 'ban' cut-price alcohol, it has emerged that a pilot scheme to tackle underage drinking in the North Eastern Education and Library Board area is to be launched.

Centered on Ballymoney, the Binge Drinking Roadshow will attempt to educate parents about the dangers of alcohol and drugs.

It will include talks from a former alcoholic and a representative from the Causeway hospital in Coleraine.

The NEELB said in Northern Ireland the number of alcohol-related deaths had more than doubled since 1994.

The event has been organised by the board in conjunction with the PSNI.

Philip Hewitt, the NEELB's advisor for Religious and Health Education, said they hoped it would encourage parents to take responsibility for their children.

"There's always been a problem with young people and alcohol, and we need parents to understand it's a dangerous substance," he said.

"Ireland as a whole is listed as having one of the highest levels of binge drinking among the 15-16 year age group in Europe and in a recent survey one in four youths claim they had been drunk 20 times within the previous 30 days.

"In many ways it's a worse problem than drugs and the anti-social spin-offs from it cause problems in society as well as affecting people's health. "

The roadshow is also due to visit Antrim and Magherafelt.

The move is backed by the British Medical Association, who is concerned that cheaper alcohol prices are fuelling the widespread problems of binge drinking.

Meanwhile, Tesco has said the Government should introduce legislation to "ensure responsible pricing on alcohol" as well as competition laws that would stop retailers from artificially raising prices.

Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco's Chief Executive, has already met with Prime Minister Gordon Brown to discuss a number of matters which would include tackling under-age drinking, alcohol-related crime, anti-social behaviour and price controls.

Now, Tesco Executive Director, Lucy Neville-Rolfe, has said: "Supermarkets do sell a lot of alcohol and we accept that we have a role to play in addressing the problem of anti-social drinking.

"Competition law prevents businesses discussing anything to do with price with each other and imposes severe penalties on anyone who breaches it. The only safe solution is for the Government to initiate and lead those discussions and to bring forward legislative proposals which Tesco and others in our industry can support."

The BMA report is expected to call on the Government to introduce laws that would reduce drinking as well as reviewing current policies which allow 24-hour pub opening times.

(JM)(BMcC)